Family & Innocence
by luvtheheaven
Summary: <html><head></head>Kurt's POV. He, Blaine & their daughter Ava are back in Lima for the 2029 New Directions Family Reunion when Blaine gets in a serious car crash. Beth Corcoran is the victim in the other car, and Blaine is going to be held criminally responsible if she dies. Santana's a cop, Karofsky is hired as a lawyer, and many more characters appear. Quinn is both Ava & Beth's biological mother.</html>
1. Out of Ice

**Title**: Family & Innocence  
><strong>Author<strong>: luvtheheaven  
><strong>Artists<strong>: FreakingPotter & totoropirate  
><strong>Betas<strong>: scout451, undefinedkosmos, and anannafesto  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 21,799  
>(That word count is excluding the author's notes, but including chapter titles.)<p>

_**Rating & Warnings**__: K+ or T. No real warnings apply. No sexual situations, no violence, no strong language, no spoilers. However, the fic does contain a minor character death, brief mentions of Finn's death and Kurt's mother's death, and also a character facing the threat of prison, so if those things are upsetting for anyone, you may want to be wary of reading my fic._

_**Author's Note:**__ This is a potential adult future for the people of Glee, based on seasons 1-5 of the series. It was written without any spoilers for season 6 in mind, but everything that happened in seasons 1 through 5 should remain canon._

_Special thanks to __**scout451**__,__** undefinedkosmos**__, and __**anannafesto**__ for being my __**betas**__ for this fic. All 3 of them were very helpful in multiple ways. ;) They were my cheerleaders, encouraging me to finish this thing. They have given me advice not only for this fic, now, but also for how to become a better writer in the future. My fic is so much better now than it was before each of them looked at it with a critical eye, and I sincerely appreciate what they did for me._

_This fic was written for the Kurt Big Bang 2014. I'd never been in a Big Bang before, or really any kind of fic challenge at all. But here, below, I have written a fic about the character of Kurt Hummel that was over 15,000 words long per the rules of the Bang, a fic that is 100% completed and not a "work in progress". I really hope people enjoy it._

_For this Kurt Big Bang, there was an art component too. For my fic here, __**FreakingPotter**__ & __**totoropirate**__ were both assigned to be my __**artists.**_

_I've never had art designed for a fic of mine before. It is a privilege to have been assigned to collaborate with two artists rather than only one. Not everyone in this big bang was so lucky. They are __**amazingly **__lovely and __**talented **__people. The effort they put into making art for my fic makes me feel so honored and I hope you readers enjoy viewing it as much as I have._

_In order to see the art, please go to my Archive of Our Own (aka AO3) posting of the fic: archiveofourown DOT org/works/2419685/chapters/5353013_

_Or if you'd like an easier URL to type into your browser, I've converted that into a "tiny url": __tinyurl DOT com/luvBigBang "luv" from my username, luvtheheaven, and then "Big Bang" for obvious reasons. You must make the DOT into a real . though and no spaces. Thanks. This site is a real hassle, I know._

_It is embedded on the page near the top (after my author's note, but before my fic starts). I hope you all check out the beautiful artwork. For a preview of the art, you can click on my book cover image for this fic right now here in this FanfictionDOTnet website, but that preview doesn't really do either piece justice. It is too small, too cropped, etc. So please go to the AO3 link to view the full thing. Thank you._

_Finally, without further ado, here's my entire fic._

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 1: Out of Ice<span>

Kurt looked on fondly as his twelve-year-old daughter attempted to teach Artie's son how to throw a Frisbee. The kids were across the grass being watched by five men, four of whom were in lawn chairs, the other in his wheelchair. They were in Burt and Carole's backyard, where the 2029 annual New Directions Family Reunion was taking place.

"Ava's a natural with younger kids, isn't she?" Blaine bragged softly, echoing the sentiment that had already been crossing his husband's mind.

Sam remarked, "She might have gotten that from Quinn." Everyone knew that Sam was remembering when Quinn had helped out babysitting his younger siblings. Kurt glanced at Puck, and saw the man who had once sported a Mohawk light up with affection at the compliment to his wife. All four of the other men sitting in a row had attended Puck and Quinn's wedding thirteen years prior, and at that time she'd been in her second trimester of her surrogate pregnancy, so it had become public knowledge that the Anderson-Hummel child would be biologically Quinn's. No one was supposed to know whether Kurt or Blaine was the biological father, but the answer had been obvious for years now. Ava's sandy blonde hair and the shape of her eyes gave it away: this was definitely Kurt's biological child.

Artie commented, "I was worried everyone here would be too grown-up for Ben and that he might not have any fun. But thankfully your girl's been keeping him entertained this whole afternoon!"

"She actually just got her babysitter's certification this past school year," Kurt explained. "So far she's only had the opportunity to babysit babies aged two or younger in our neighborhood, so being able to play with a six-year-old is an exciting change."

"Speaking of your neighborhood," Artie asked, "what's it like up there, in Vancouver?"

"The summers are much more bearable there, for one thing," Blaine commented with a playful chuckle, the tiniest air of a complaint in his tone. This time of year was always more dry in the Pacific Northwest, and Kurt agreed that Ohio's humidity was a shock to the system after having gotten used to the Vancouver summers. Blaine pulled off his sunglasses for a moment and wiped the sweat off his brow.

"We bought a house in a really lovely area," Kurt answered his friend. "We live in Riley Park, which has such a wonderful old-fashioned Main Street with all of the city's vintage and antique shops. You both have careers in Hollywood," he said, gesturing toward Puck and Artie. "You guys should easily be able to find excuses to come up to the Canadian counterpart! You should drop by for a visit sometime!" He directed his next comment specifically to Artie. "Your wife and son would be welcome too, of course."

Artie smiled. "Thanks. Kitty has been begging me to take her on a trip somewhere. Maybe around Ben's winter break we could visit you guys."

Kurt nodded excitedly. "That'd be really lovely. Please do consider it!"

"Yeah," Blaine agreed. "We have a guest bedroom you guys could use, plus the same old blow-up mattress I used to sleep on whenever we were staying at my grandma's house when I was Ben's age."

At that moment, fifteen-year-old Danny Schuester came up to the group of men, interrupting them.

"Hey, um, Kurt? You're the host this year, right?"

"Um, yeah, basically," Kurt replied, although it had certainly been a joint effort with his parents: this was his parents' house, Carole had purchased all of the food from the supermarket, Burt had grilled the burgers, Burt and Kurt together had set up the badminton net, Carole had filled up most of the water balloons herself… Kurt didn't really feel like he'd been in charge of much of anything.

Danny continued, "So I guess you're the person that needs to know – we've run out of ice for the drinks."

"Oh!" Kurt replied, a little worriedly. That was a big problem, especially on a hot day like today.

"I'll run out to get some more," Blaine offered. "It'll give me a chance to be in an air conditioned store for an ever-so-slight break from this heat," he said with a slight chuckle.

"Okay! Thanks so much, baby," Kurt replied, grateful for such an easy solution. Blaine stood up from his lawn chair, pecked his husband on the lips, and then started walking toward the driveway, disappearing from view.

At the same time, Danny had requested that two of the remaining men join him and Tina for a casual game of badminton.

"Well, I don't think I'd be very good at that game," Artie playfully joked, gesturing to his wheelchair.

"Uh, yeah… of course, sorry," Danny replied with embarrassment. "I didn't mean to-"

"-It's okay," Artie cut him off. "I was just teasing. You didn't do anything wrong," he added, assuring the boy.

"I'll keep you company over here, Artie," Kurt chimed in, nodding toward Puck and Sam that they should participate in the game. Sam immediately ran to Tina's side of the net, wanting to be on her team.

The two younger children were still making attempts at throwing the Frisbee back and forth. Kurt and Artie shifted their gazes back and forth between their children and the four-person badminton game.

"So you and Puck are working on the same film right now?" Kurt asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence, attempting to broach a new topic of conversation.

"Yeah!" Artie replied excitedly. "He's written the script, and it's hella hilarious, yo! The producers have settled on a title: _Nana, the Jewish Rockstar Grandmother_, and apparently he based most of it on real experiences he had with his own grandmother before she died."

"And you get to direct it?" Kurt asked.

"Mmm-hmm!" Artie confirmed. "I also get to do the editing. That's the beauty of being close friends with the screenwriter – you get hired for every job you want." He laughed.

Rachel, sporting a visible baby bump, walked over to them and sat in one of the now open chairs.

"Hey," she greeted her best friend with a huge smile. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, just how Artie's working on a comedy with Puck," Kurt answered.

"Oh yeah, Quinn was just emailing me about that! She's so happy for him," Rachel replied.

Kurt felt a little awkward about how casually Quinn's name kept coming up. Quinn avoided these family reunions of theirs for a reason. Kurt had actually never met Puck and Quinn's daughter, Zelda, and he Kurt sometimes regretted choosing Quinn to be Ava's mother, because she later decided to distance herself from them. He'd never meant to alienate the beautiful woman from their lives.

Quinn was now a successful lawyer, happy with Zelda and Puck out in L.A. In addition to obviously keeping in touch with Rachel on a regular basis, Quinn had also remained close friends with Artie and Kitty. But sometimes Kurt wished she had remained friends with him and Blaine too. He missed her, and it didn't help that within the past hour, both Sam and Rachel had mentioned her name.

"I'm so sorry your TV series got canceled," Rachel then told Kurt solemnly.

"That always seems to happen to the best ones!" Artie commiserated. "I'm not just saying this; honestly, _Princes and Paupers_ was one of my favorite shows."

"Your costume designs were some of the most gorgeous things I've ever seen," Rachel complimented.

"Aw, wow. Thanks, you guys," Kurt replied. "Yeah, it sucks." He had loved being the costume designer for a show where they really did wear crazily elaborate costumes in every scene. He'd been paid remarkably well for that show for the brief period it had lasted, too. "But TV shows _usually _only have a lifespan of thirteen episodes. You can't get your hopes up in this business, right?"

"Right," Artie agreed. "I've pretty much stuck to film for that reason," he added. "I don't like the idea of there being a start but not an ending."

"But I do have some happier news," Kurt chimed in. "Blaine was just cast to be a lead in a new show."

"Oh really?" Rachel replied excitedly.

"Yeah," Kurt said. "The show is _Modern Greek Gods_. He gets to be Zeus!"

"What's the premise?" Artie asked with curiosity.

"Oh, it's hard to explain, but I read the script with him and it seems ingenious. It's about men and women in the modern world who are actually Greek gods, and they try to incorporate so much of the ancient Greek mythology into it…. You guys will love it." Kurt didn't bother adding that he was applying for the job of costume designer on that show, just in case he wasn't hired. He had already interviewed, and he'd thought the interview had gone well – they had seemed especially impressed with Kurt's portfolio which included his _Princes and Paupers_ costumes. The truth was, secretly, Kurt's dream-come-true would be to be able to work on the same show as Blaine, especially since the show had opportunities for some unique Greek god costumes to be made for some of the fantasy sequences. He was crossing his fingers that he'd get the job.

"Oo!" a distracted Rachel quietly exclaimed with a smile, placing her hand on her enlarged abdomen. She looked up at the guys. "Do you want to feel the baby kick?" she asked.

"Sure!" they replied in unison. She stood up and walked in front of them and then, one at a time, they gently placed a hand on her black, maternity-sized shirt. Kurt wondered how strange it must be to feel a baby that was so obviously _alive_ inside of you. He felt the small movements tickle his palm. His thoughts went out to Quinn again, who, before keeping and raising her third child, had carried two girls to term that she had given away. She had felt Ava moving inside of her, just like this, thirteen years ago. He would forever be grateful to her for bringing his beautiful daughter into the world, for being willing to give him and Blaine the greatest of gifts.

"You know," Rachel said, "Ethan was so excited when he could first feel the baby kick. He's such an adorable man. I can't wait for you and Blaine to meet him at Thanksgiving."

"I can't wait either," Kurt replied, excited just thinking about getting to introduce Ava to the New York City he adored. He was so happy that Rachel had finally found happiness with someone. Of course it had broken all of the New Directions' hearts, especially Kurt's, to know that her life couldn't have been shared with Finn. But at age thirty-five, Rachel had finally found a way to have a happily ever after that even included a baby. She'd found a nice, Jewish man who was a freelance artist and who wasn't scared away by her strong personality. Kurt was very excited to meet the man – and their soon-to-be-born child – later that year.

"Artie, you need to meet him sometime too," Rachel added. "I know you have your own California Thanksgiving plans, but maybe next summer at this annual reunion, Ethan can come along."

"That'd be wonderful," Artie replied. "We all want to meet this dude."

Kurt noticed the sun starting the set in the sky. "Wow, time really does fly, doesn't it?" he asked. "What time is it?"

Artie glanced at his watch. "It's 8:44 pm," he stated. "Actually, this means it's Ben's bedtime."

"Oh, okay," Kurt replied, understanding. Artie gave a nod as a goodbye, and then rolled himself across the grass toward his son. Ava said her goodbyes to the young boy she had spent the day with and then headed over toward the chip bowl for one last snack before everything was put away.

Brittany helped Kurt begin to pick up the colorful burst water balloon pieces from the grass.

"This sunset looks like an Oompa Loompa and Big Bird fell on top of each other," Brittany commented wistfully, trying to express how beautiful she found it. Kurt agreed.

"It _is_ a gorgeous combination of blues, purples, oranges, and yellows."

They each found a few more pieces of balloon to place into the open trash bag in Kurt's hand.

"I'm disappointed that Santana couldn't make it today," Kurt commented.

"Yeah, well, she was _pissed_," Brittany replied. "She specifically requested this Saturday off, but at the last minute she had to cover for someone else's shift. You'll see her tomorrow, though, I'm sure."

"Of course," Kurt replied. "I look forward to catching up with her."

Santana and Brittany both had ended up back in Lima, and were living happily childfree lives together as legally married wives. It was great that Ohio had passed its own legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in 2017. The pessimist in Kurt had worried that Ohio would be one of the very last states in the union to allow it. Santana now worked in the Lima County Sheriff's department as the only female cop, and Brittany had become manager at a local pet store. They seemed satisfied with their lives, just as Kurt and Blaine were satisfied with the lives they'd created for themselves as immigrant Canadian citizens. Vancouver had been the perfect solution for their mutual goals in life, just like Lima had worked out well for Brittany and Santana.

Kurt felt a vibration in his pocket and moments later started hearing "The Avenue Q Theme", which was his current nostalgic ringtone. He hoped it'd be Blaine calling. Blaine should've been back a while ago, he realized. He had just been making a quick trip to get ice. Kurt wondered what had held him up. He pulled his phone out and saw an unfamiliar number on the caller-ID.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hello. Is this Kurt Hummel?"

"Yes." Kurt felt nervous. The voice on the other end seemed too… serious.

"And you're Blaine Anderson's husband?" the voice asked.

Kurt's anxiety level shot through the roof.

"Yes. Is Blaine okay? What's going on?"

Brittany looked over at Kurt with concern.

"Sir, your husband was involved in a serious car crash. He just arrived at the hospital with the paramedics, and we looked in his phone for his emergency contact information."

Kurt gaped for a few seconds in shock. Then he asked for clarification, "Are you at Lima Memorial Hospital?"

"Yes, sir."

"And is Blaine okay?!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but he's with the doctors right now. They're still assessing his injuries. He was unconscious when they brought him in. That is all I know."

"Oh my God," Kurt whispered.

They hung up and then Kurt looked over at his daughter, who was standing beside Burt, engrossed in a story he was telling her. Kurt had been only eight years old when his mom had died – and his mom had _died_ in a _car crash_. Blaine had just _been_ in a _car crash_. Ava was twelve, which was still far too young to lose her father. He didn't want her to have to go through the same thing, the same unexpected, senseless, awful kind of death of a parent. He didn't want to scare her or make her worry unless he absolutely had to. Maybe Blaine would be fine. He had to hold onto that hope. He just had to. He steeled himself for the situation, walking over to his own father, resisting the urge to cry.

"…and that is why it's important for everyone to learn how to change a tire," Burt was telling Ava as Kurt approached them.

Kurt looked into his father's eyes meaningfully, trying to wordlessly convey that he had something serious that he needed to say, but that he didn't want Ava to hear it. Burt picked up on the unspoken cue.

"Sweetheart, why don't you go see if Grandma needs any help?" he asked his granddaughter, gesturing over toward Carole who was busy folding up the lawn chairs.

"Okay," Ava replied, oblivious to the fact that anything was the matter.

The moment Ava was out of earshot, Kurt quickly said, "I just got a call. Blaine left a while ago to get some more ice, and um, apparently he's been in a serious car accident."

Burt's eyes went wide.

Kurt's voice started to break a little. "He's been taken to the hospital, and he was unconscious, and I don't know anything else." He held back his tears as best as he could, but it was still obvious that Kurt was terrified.

Burt placed his hand on Kurt's shoulder, comfortingly. "Do you want me to go to the hospital with you?" he asked. The calmness in his tone was so comforting that somehow it was making Kurt feel more like a child again, a child whose father would somehow, magically, be able to protect him from anything the world might throw at him. Kurt took a deep breath and remembered that no, he was an adult now with adult responsibilities, including a child of his own to take care of.

"Thanks, but can you just um, watch Ava?" he asked with a very shaky voice. "I'll leave, but can she stay here with you?" He wanted to avoid telling Ava anything for now, but he also wanted to make sure his daughter had a ride to the hospital if… well, he didn't want to think about the worst-case scenario. Not yet.

"Alright," Burt replied hesitantly, clearly wishing his son had agreed to be accompanied. "But you know, Carole could just stay here with-"

Kurt cut him off. "I want you both to stay with her, please."

The truth was that of course Kurt didn't want to go to the hospital alone. But he couldn't think about that right now. Ava needed both Burt and Carole at a time like this. She needed as much loving support from kind adults as possible. Kurt would manage on his own, because Blaine needed him to. He willed himself to start walking out of the backyard.

"Son," Burt called out after Kurt. "I hope you know I'm here for you. All night. Just remember that you should _not_ hesitate to call."

Kurt turned back and flashed his father a weak smile. "I know, Dad."

He then continued to head toward the driveway. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, though, realizing Blaine had taken the car. The one rental car he and Blaine were sharing. Kurt needed to turn back. He needed to ask for either Burt or Carole's keys; he needed to ask permission to borrow one of their cars.

Brittany approached him before he had a chance to ask either of his parents for such a thing. "Let me drive," she said.

Kurt was confused for a moment, before realizing she had overheard his whole phone call. He smiled meekly.

"Thanks," he replied. At least he wouldn't have to go through this alone. He'd gone through losing his mom, and losing Finn. He hadn't been alone at those times. He doubted he could've survived them if he had been. But he couldn't lose Blaine too. Kurt thought about how his husband was only thirty-four years old. He realized Finn and even his mom had both been younger than that, but still, thirty-four was way too young! Ava needed both of her dads. Kurt needed his husband.

As they drove down the road in Brittany's car with Kurt in the passenger's seat, Kurt let waterfalls of silent, terrified tears cascade down his cheeks.

"I love him so much," he said quietly with a broken voice.

"I know," Brittany replied understandingly.

Nothing else was said the entire ride, which to Kurt seemed to take an eternity. Thankfully, the hospital was nearby, and in reality the trip had only taken five minutes.

When they got through the doors to the emergency room, the first thing that caught their attention was Officer Lopez herself, in uniform.

"Santana?" Brittany called out loudly, in surprise.

"Britt," she responded, leaving the spot where she had been leaning on the main desk. She ran over to them. "I was there. I was the officer called to the scene of the crash," she said solemnly, looking at Kurt.

"What happened?" Kurt asked, desperation evident in his body language as well as his tone.

"It looks like Blaine crashed into Beth's car at full speed," Santana explained. "A woman who was out walking her dog witnessed the accident and saw that he ran a red light. Thank God she was there to call 911 as soon as she did."

"Beth's car?" Kurt asked, confused.

"Oh, you didn't know? Yeah, um, Shelby's…" she hesitated, then lowered her volume and clarified, "Quinn's daughter. She's much worse off than Blaine," she told them both.

Kurt didn't know how to react. Quinn and Puck's Beth? Blaine had run a red light and had crashed into _her_?

Brittany was able to latch onto the more important part of that sentence. "Wait, so is Blaine okay?" she asked her wife.

"Oh, yes! He woke up right before you got here. I'm so sorry; I should have led with that."

Kurt let out a breath in relief. At that moment, a female doctor with short, brown, curly hair approached the group.

"Mr. Hummel?" he asked.

Kurt nodded. "That's me."

"You're Blaine Anderson's husband, right?" Kurt nodded again. "I'm Dr. Hendrix, and I've been assessing his injuries. He appears to have a broken foot, so he's getting an X-ray taken now. He also suffered a concussion."

"Is that why he was unconscious?" Kurt asked breathlessly.

"Yes," the woman confirmed. "He is experiencing some light sensitivity and nausea now too. He must have hit his head hard, but we have already given him a CT scan and he should be okay. There have been no signs of neck injury or bleeding in his brain."

Kurt's eyes went wide, upset by all of the ways this could have been worse, and by all of the ways it still was bad.

"Can I see him now?" Kurt asked, desperate to talk to him, to be able to confirm with his own two eyes that Blaine was alive.

"Sure," she replied. "He should be returning from Radiology now."


	2. Under Arrest

Chapter 2: Under Arrest

Kurt said very quick goodbyes to Brittany and Santana, and then followed Dr. Hendrix down the hall to Blaine's room. Kurt arrived just in time to see a Radiology Technician pushing Blaine in a wheelchair toward the open door. Kurt had to stifle a small gasp at the sight of his husband. He had cuts and bruises scattered all over his face, arms, and legs. Kurt wondered how badly he was hurt under that hospital gown, too. And his foot… gosh it was completely purple, and had swollen to twice its normal size. Yet the worst part was that Blaine appeared to be squinting in excruciating pain.

"Blaine, honey!" Kurt called out, trying to catch his attention. "Oh, gosh, Blaine."

The technician paused to let the married couple look at each other for a moment, and Blaine forced a brief smile despite his pain, trying to silently reassure his husband that he was, truly, alright.

Blaine soon returned inside his room. He needed some help getting back on the examining table and the tech was just leaving the room when a nurse stopped by to give Blaine a shot of morphine. After that, the nurse left them alone, informing them that someone would be in shortly to discuss the details of Blaine's X-ray with him.

"I… I don't… I can't believe I ran a red light, like they're saying!" Blaine said in an anguished tone, glancing back toward his injured foot once every few seconds, the pain obviously killing him.

"Do you remember the seconds before the crash?" Kurt asked softly, sure his husband would never knowingly break any traffic laws. Blaine was probably the most cautious driver he knew!

"Yeah," Blaine replied. "I think I got distracted. Oh! It was the ice; the bag of ice I'd bought had been about to fall off the passenger seat onto the floor, so I took one second to try and um, prevent it from falling, I literally glanced away from the green light for half-a-second, I swear I never took my eyes away for more than that, but the next thing I knew it wasn't a green light and… and…" Blaine started to cry. "I woke up here, in the hospital," he concluded his story in a near-whisper.

"Shh," Kurt tried to comfort him. "Shh, it's okay, it's okay." He reached out and gently patted Blaine's shoulder, worried that touching him at all might hurt him in a spot where he could potentially be injured. He had cuts and bruises in various places and his shoulder was completely obscured by his gown.

"But it's not okay," Blaine replied quietly, trying to stop crying. "They said I crashed into someone else? A nineteen-year-old girl?"

Kurt remembered what Santana had told them over by the waiting area. Oh, gosh. _Beth_. She would be about nineteen now, wouldn't she? Kurt nervously bit his lip.

"What?" Blaine asked quickly, picking up on the fact that his husband knew more than he did. "How badly is she hurt?"

"Um, I don't know," Kurt truthfully replied. "But I, um… Santana was the cop called to the scene of your crash, and she told me the person in the other car was Beth," he said solemnly.

"Beth?" Blaine asked. The name wasn't quite ringing a bell for him. "Wait, do we _know_ her?"

"Kind of," Kurt explained, having never really met the girl. "She's the baby Quinn had in high school, two years before you transferred to McKinley."

Blaine closed his eyes, understanding coming over him.

At that moment, Officer Santana Lopez walked into the open doorway, gently knocking to catch their attention. She looked upset.

"I'm really sorry to have to do this," she said quietly to Blaine before then shifting her apologetic gaze toward Kurt. "But um… Shelby wants to press charges, and I figured it'd be better if I was the one to do this," she told them vaguely, attempting to sidestep the issue at hand for as long as possible.

Kurt and Blaine waited impatiently for her to get to the point.

"Blaine Anderson, you are under arrest for Vehicular Assault, and if Beth Corcoran dies as a result of her injuries, this charge will be escalated to Involuntary Manslaughter." She stepped toward the speechless men and slowly began to pull out a pair of handcuffs from her belt. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

"You can't do this!" Kurt cried out, desperately. "He's… he didn't… it was an accident! He's injured too!"

Blaine shook his head. "I understand, Santana," he told her. "It's your job. Do what you have to do," he said in resignation.

Santana nodded appreciatively. "Well, you _are_ injured…" she said. "So I'm just going to handcuff one of your wrists to the bed, for now. Which… um… which one would you prefer remain free?"

Blaine wasn't sure how to answer the question. "Well, I guess I'm right handed, so..."

Santana took that to mean he wanted his left wrist tied down to the bed. "That's not too tight, is it?" she asked worriedly, clearly upset about needing to handcuff him.

"It's fine," Blaine replied.

"Wait… so… Beth might _die_?" Kurt asked, horrified.

"Unfortunately," Santana confirmed. "She's in a coma right now, and even if she wakes up, which the doctors are not hopeful about, they don't think she'll be able to survive more than a few more days. Her internal injuries are too great. We can always hope, though. She's not dead yet. There is still a small chance she'll survive."

Kurt looked at his husband. All of the color had drained from his face. Kurt understood what Blaine was thinking. He was feeling guilty for this tragic situation. But if there was one thing Kurt was sure of, it was that this was a horrible accident. This was not Blaine's fault. This was not something Blaine had done to Beth, but instead something that had happened to them both. Santana walked over to the doorway, needing to keep an eye on the handcuffed man as part of her job, but wanting to allow the two of them some privacy to talk.

"Honey," Kurt said in a hushed tone, "we're going to fight these charges. I know you're innocent."

"No," Blaine replied, resigned. "I probably should just plead guilty."

"What? No, you can't do that!"

"But Kurt, I- I ran the red light. They have a witness. I'm- I _am_ guilty," he told Kurt dejectedly. "And a nineteen year old girl…"

Kurt understood why Blaine couldn't finish that sentence.

Dr. Hendrix came into the room, and then hesitated, surprised to see the handcuffs on Blaine's wrist. She quickly regained her professional demeanor, however.

"Okay, so the radiologists have looked at your X-ray images, and so have I," she explained, putting the pictures up on the backlit board so that she could point out what she was about to describe. "Most likely what happened is that when you tried to press your foot on the brake, it was at precisely the wrong time, right as the crash was occurring," she informed Blaine. "This caused a serious Lisfranc injury in your right foot. Three of your metatarsals have been both dislocated and fractured, and you will need to have emergency surgery tonight, or you will risk facing compartment syndrome."

"Compartment syndrome?" Kurt asked, wishing for clarification.

"Essentially, this means that, currently, the blood supply to your husband's muscles and nerves is insufficient. If left untreated for too long, the lack of blood supply could lead to permanent muscle and nerve damage, which could require amputation of Blaine's lower leg. Performing surgery as soon as possible would greatly reduce the chances of this happening."

Blaine's facial expression conveyed terror upon hearing all of this. Kurt squeezed his free hand, trying to reassure him.

"Officer?" the doctor asked Santana, who was still standing in their doorway. "Will he be allowed to be un-cuffed for the duration of his surgery?"

"Of course," Santana replied. "We wouldn't want to jeopardize his life by having him be stuck in a weird position or something."

"I'm going to contact our on-call orthopedic surgeon now, Dr. Campbell. You'll be in good hands, alright, Mr. Anderson?" She was kindly trying to reassure the man.

"Thanks," Blaine replied.

"I guess I should call my dad, let him know everything, and… do you want me to have him bring Ava down here, before your surgery?" Kurt asked. He knew the surgery was necessary, and Blaine would be fine, other than the whole getting arrested thing, but… there was always a chance that something would go wrong. He didn't want to think about it, but… it might be best for Blaine to see Ava before he went under anesthesia, just in case.

"Um…" Blaine paused, seemingly overwhelmed. "Can you call my parents too?" he asked, nervously.

"Of course," Kurt replied, wanting to help Blaine in whatever way he could.

Blaine continued, "And yeah, I'd love to see Ava." He shifted his attention to Santana. "Are you going to take me to jail after the surgery?"

Santana's face was still overwhelmingly sympathetic. "You'll have a chance to recover here in the hospital for at least a few days. And maybe Kurt can um, bail you out in the meantime, so that you won't have to go to jail at all, prior to your trial. I'll discuss the details with him while you're in surgery," she told him.

"Okay," Blaine said, still looking quite upset. He glanced from his huge foot toward his handcuffed wrist. "And Kurt?" Blaine said quietly, slowly working up to his next suggestion. "I think… wouldn't it be a good idea if Puck and Quinn knew what happened?"

Kurt's heart ached at the thought of informing them that their child was in critical condition, unlikely to even survive. Even if they hadn't raised Beth, he knew it would break their hearts. He had been Carole's stepson for far too long to still be oblivious to exactly how heartbreaking losing a child was; Finn had also been _nineteen_, he painfully realized. And Finn had actually thought Beth was his child for a period of time. This whole situation was making Kurt's head spin. It was too much. Far too much.

"We were just hanging out with Puck today," Kurt commented, stating the obvious. Blaine knew. "Yeah," Kurt finally agreed. "I'll make sure they know."

* * *

><p>After Kurt had made his three phone calls – one long, detailed call to Burt, one simple call to the Andersons, and finally the most difficult call to Puck (who would then relay the information to his wife back in California) – Kurt returned to keep Blaine company. Blaine was given a purple skin marker and was to write 'NOT THIS FOOT' on his uninjured left foot.<p>

"Your parents told me to let you know that they love you," Kurt informed him. "Did you want me to ask them to come down here?"

"No, I just wanted them to know."

"That you were hurt?"

"Yeah. You didn't tell them I was arrested, did you?" Blaine sounded so ashamed.

"No, honey. I didn't."

"Thanks."

"Did you tell your dad about the criminal charges?"

"Um, well, yeah," Kurt said. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay," Blaine reassured him. "He needs to know."

* * *

><p>Ava and Burt arrived at the hospital just in time. Blaine had already been moved to the pre-surgery ward of the hospital, which was a few floors up, and his twelve-year-old daughter ran into his one-armed embrace as soon as she spotted him.<p>

"Careful," Kurt admonished, worried Blaine would be too bruised for that. Blaine just squeezed Ava tighter, though, and then looked up at Kurt without letting go of her.

"I'm fine," Blaine reassured his husband. Directing his attention back to his daughter, in a softer tone of voice he repeated, "I'm fine. I'm going to be fine. Don't worry."

Ava pulled away from the hug, and then noticed the way his arm was handcuffed down. She looked up at Kurt with a questioning look on her face. Kurt looked at Burt, wishing the man had already explained the situation to his granddaughter so that Kurt wouldn't have to do it now. Just at that moment though, Kurt's cell phone started vibrating in his pocket. Distracted, he pulled it out.

"I'll explain it to her," Blaine told him. "You take that."

Kurt nodded wordlessly and exited Blaine's little area, preparing to take the call. The Caller ID had caught him off guard. This was not a person who usually called him.

"Hello?" he answered on the fourth ring.

"Hello," Quinn replied, softly.

"So… um… I guess Puck told you about…" Kurt hesitated awkwardly, so Quinn kindly finished his sentence for him.

"Yes, Puck told me what's happened with Beth. I then called Shelby, and um, she told me Blaine has been arrested?" she asked, concerned.

"Oh, yeah," Kurt replied, a bit taken aback. He wasn't sure where this conversation was headed.

"Well um… I wish Shelby wasn't pursuing these charges, but… I mean, she doesn't know Blaine," Quinn sighed. "I'm not well versed in Criminal Law, so I can't represent him," she told Kurt. "Plus, I live too far away, otherwise I'd offer to help."

"Oh, I would never ask for-"

"Shut up," Quinn scolded.

Kurt felt weird. He hadn't talked to Quinn for a few years now. The two of them had both attended the 2024 New Directions Family Reunion, leaving their children back home with their husbands in order to avoid Zelda and Ava meeting, and to avoid Ava meeting her birth mother. This had been Quinn's decision, making Blaine and Kurt's lives easier, since they hadn't been sure what they wanted. But other than that summer five years back, Kurt hadn't really been in touch with Quinn. And yet here she was; she was offering to _help_ Blaine, rather than taking Shelby and Beth's side. Kurt was confused.

"I will be flying out there to see Beth," Quinn quietly commented. "I'm booking a flight for first thing tomorrow morning."

"Of course," Kurt replied in a near whisper. They both understood the gravity of this situation and Kurt wasn't sure how to respond.

"However," Quinn continued, "since I'll be in town anyway, I figured maybe I could use the prestige of being a big city lawyer to help get you a meeting with the best criminal defense attorney in Lima. Sometimes they won't take on new clients on short notice unless you know somebody. Just let me help you, okay?"

"I… I don't know what to say," Kurt responded. "Thank you."

"No problem," she replied. "Is… is Blaine gonna be okay?" she asked, nervously.

Kurt realized he had only vaguely mentioned that Blaine was injured too when he'd called Puck to inform him of the situation with Beth.

"Blaine's going to be fine," Kurt assured her. "He has to have emergency surgery on his foot tonight, and he suffered a concussion, but he is going to be just fine."

"Good," Quinn replied, and Kurt could swear he heard her breathe a sigh of relief. It meant a lot to him to know she cared so much about Blaine. Quinn then added in a very soft tone, "I would hate for Ava to have to deal with anything worse happening to Blaine."

Suddenly, Kurt understood. Quinn cared deeply about all three of the children to whom she gave birth. She wasn't only upset about Beth right now because she was aware that this was happening to Ava too. He couldn't possibly appreciate the sentiment more. In fact, it was so moving to realize that Quinn had his daughter's best interests in mind that Kurt had to make an effort to resist crying.

"Thank you, Quinn," Kurt said simply. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," she replied.


	3. A Small Town

Chapter 3: A Small Town

Kurt, Burt, and Ava were ushered out to the surgical waiting room moments before Blaine's surgeon was to arrive, in order to prevent delaying Blaine's time-sensitive surgery any further. Ava looked at Santana with wide eyes as the woman in the police uniform quickly walked past the family, the key she would need to remove the handcuffs grasped in her hand.

"Papa said he was arrested, and that's why he had the handcuff on," Ava said, turning to her other father.

"Yes, that's right," Kurt confirmed as the group of three sat down in a row of chairs.

"He said he accidentally hurt someone?"

"Yeah, he was driving," Kurt tried to explain. "He crashed into another car and, um, the driver of the other car is really badly hurt."

"Is Papa going to go to jail?"

"Um…" Kurt faltered. "I don't know. I hope not. I really hope not."

"If he does have to go to jail, will it be here in the United States, or back home in Canada?"

"I have no idea. That's a good question."

"I hope it's in Canada, so that we can visit him," she replied.

"Hey," Burt interjected. "I think that's enough questions for now."

Kurt smiled at his father appreciatively. Kurt then realized how tired he was beginning to feel. He started rummaging around in the bag of Blaine's clothing that he was holding onto, trying to sneak a peek at the watch he had given Blaine as a tenth anniversary present. He found it and saw that it was nearing eleven o'clock.

"Should I take Ava back home now?" Burt asked, catching on to what Kurt had been looking at.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Is Carole waiting up for you guys?"

"Of course," Burt replied. "You know her."

Kurt smiled. It was true. Carole was very predictable sometimes.

"No, I want to stay here," Ava protested.

"You can see Papa in the morning," Kurt promised. "Let Grandpa take you home now. Please?"

Ava looked up at her father and seemed to understand how desperate he was for her to just cooperate. Despite her earlier protest, she quickly accepted that she simply couldn't stay at the hospital tonight.

"Alright. Goodnight, Dad," she said softly.

The three of them all stood up, and then Ava hugged Kurt tightly. He responded by kissing the top of her head affectionately, his lips against her soft, sandy-blonde hair.

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

Burt led Ava away as Kurt sank back into his chair. He didn't have very long to collect his thoughts, however, as at that moment Santana returned from the room and sat beside Kurt.

"So, I can probably get a judge to come into the hospital tomorrow afternoon to do his bail hearing. Okay?"

"Oh… okay," Kurt hesitantly replied. He wasn't sure if that was okay or not. He wasn't sure about anything right now. He'd never dealt with a bail hearing before. He appreciated that Santana was trying to be helpful, though.

"How many people have you arrested in the hospital before?" he asked, curious.

"Oh, me personally? This is actually a first for me," she admitted.

Kurt yawned.

"So how was the party?" Santana asked, trying to change the subject, and politely ignoring Kurt's obvious exhaustion.

"Oh, it was really nice," Kurt said, recalling the events of the reunion earlier that day. "I wish you could've been there. You would've laughed at how bad Sam and Tina are at Badminton."

Santana smiled. "Did Britt play?" she asked.

"Oh, no, I think she was playing with the water balloons with Marley and my parents," he said, chuckling slightly. "Brittany's really good at that, whereas I usually get soaked after the first toss."

Santana smiled lecherously back at him. "Yeah, I know from experience that my girl Brittany is talented with her hands."

"You're awful," Kurt replied, rolling his eyes. Santana always found a way to work their sex lives into every single conversation Kurt had with her, just to try and get under his skin. It had stopped bothering him years ago, though, and Santana knew that. Now when she did it she just wanted to make him smile.

* * *

><p>Santana kindly kept Kurt company, keeping up the pleasant small talk to try and keep his mind off things until Blaine's surgery was complete. It only took a little over an hour. The doctor came out to inform Kurt that his husband had been transferred to recovery, and Santana said her goodbyes, apologizing as she informed Kurt that she now needed to re-handcuff Blaine.<p>

"Oh and Mr. Hummel?" the doctor added, after Santana was out of earshot.

"Yes?"

"I just want to assure you that despite having a personal connection to Blaine from many years ago, I treated Blaine exactly the same way I would treat all of my patients."

"A personal connection?" Kurt was both surprised and confused.

"Well… yes," Dr. Campbell admitted. "I'm not sure if Blaine ever mentioned an 'Eli'? It was before you two got together, I'm sure. We were in high school, actually."

Kurt felt like he'd been punched in the gut. If only it _had_ been 'before', rather than _during_ their time together. Wow. It had been over a decade since Eli's dreaded name had crossed Kurt's mind.

"Oh," Kurt replied quietly, knowing he needed to say something. "Yeah. Blaine… mentioned you once," he vaguely replied, fibbing a little.

"I really didn't know him very well," Dr. Campbell explained, misunderstanding why Kurt was so upset. "I know usually it is against hospital rules to operate on a friend or family member, but we were more like casual acquaintances from a previous life, so I figured you both would prefer not to wait for a new guy to be called in from the next town over – I'm the only practicing orthopedic surgeon in Lima."

"It's fine," Kurt said simply.

"Your husband said it was okay, right before the anesthesiologist put him under," Dr. Campbell elaborated. "His consent was all I needed, so…"

"I get it!" Kurt half-yelled. He was getting very impatient with this man who had caused him about a year's worth of heartache, and the fact that it was after midnight after what had been the most stressful evening of Kurt's entire life was not helping. "I said it was fine. Can I see my husband now?" He felt a bit bad for snapping at a surgeon. Usually he would be more polite to the person who had just saved his husband's future ability to walk. But Kurt was beyond exhausted. He was currently in no state to deal with this, not when he also had to deal with finding a lawyer, preferably before his bail hearing the following afternoon.

"Yeah, sure," the man in the white coat answered. "He's in room 408; you can let yourself in. He should be waking up any minute now."

Kurt nodded, and then took a deep breath, trying to recall his manners. "Thank you, doctor," he said in the most appreciative tone he could muster.

"You're welcome," the man said.

Kurt slowly approached Blaine's new hospital room, glancing at the way the rooms in this hallway were numbered. He sped up when he saw Santana exiting what must have been his husband's room.

"He's still sleeping," she informed him with a soft smile. "I haven't seen him with his hair this messy since prom," she teased in a loving tone. "I'm going to go home and let Brittany know what's going on, if she's still awake. She drove you here, but you'll be able to get another ride home, right?" Kurt nodded, and Santana seemed satisfied. "Goodnight, Kurt."

The two parted ways, and then Kurt entered his husband's room, realizing Santana was right and Blaine's hair had lost pretty much all of its shape by now. Blaine's foot was now encased in a soft white cast, elevated upon three pillows that had been placed at the foot of the bed. The cotton gauze beneath the cast was sticking out messily, and Kurt realized this cast was only a temporary dressing for his wound.

Blaine stirred in his sleep, beginning to wake up.

"I'm right here, honey," Kurt said in a hushed tone. "I'm right here. You made it through the surgery just fine."

"It was Eli," Blaine mumbled, not fully awake yet. "My doctor. Eli. I couldn't believe it. Eli."

"Shh, shh…" Kurt tried to interrupt, but Blaine continued.

"I'm sorry Kurt. I'm so sorry. I am the worst person ever. I really do deserve to go to prison."

"No," Kurt contradicted him. "No, you're not. You're an amazing husband and father. You definitely don't deserve to go to prison. Even Quinn wants to help you. Even she knows. Don't say that."

"Okay," Blaine replied groggily.

Despite the fact that the self-deprecating comments stopped, Kurt could tell Blaine still felt like a bad person. It was written all over his face. Blaine was currently stuck in a state of self-hatred and overwhelming guilt, and Kurt wished there was something he could say to make Blaine forget about those feelings. "I love you," he told him sincerely. "I love you so much."

"I know," Blaine replied softly, still sounding half-asleep. "I love you, too."

Blaine slowly became more alert and glanced at his foot. "It hurts," he complained.

At that moment, a black woman wearing scrubs walked in and offered to up his dosage of morphine. Blaine gladly accepted.

"Would you like me to bring you a cot, so that you can sleep beside your husband tonight?" the nurse asked Kurt. He nodded gratefully.

By one in the morning, both men were far away in dreamland. Kurt had no way of knowing what Blaine was dreaming about, but he could have guessed his husband's mind was plagued with dark thoughts, even in his sleep. Kurt's subconscious, however, was busy fantasizing that their twelve-year-old Ava was somehow Blaine's lawyer. She wisely informed the judge that there had been a big mistake. Blaine didn't even get into a car crash. Suddenly, in typical dream fashion, Blaine's foot was fine, and it had never been hurt to begin with, it had all been an illusion. Kurt then saw visions of Puck, Quinn, and Shelby all laughing happily because their daughter Beth was fine too. Nothing had happened.

Kurt wished that dream could have lasted forever. The next morning, Kurt awoke to the crushing reality of his injured, handcuffed husband still snoring in front of him. He then realized he had only awoken because his cell phone was ringing. He looked at the caller ID. Quinn was calling again. He stepped out of the room, not wanting to wake Blaine.

"Hi, Quinn," he answered.

"Hi," she replied. "I'm in the airport, about to get on a plane. It'll be a five-hour flight," she said. "So I figured I should call you now."

"What time is it?" he asked, still disoriented from having been asleep a minute prior.

"It's five a.m. here, but it's eight where you are. I'll arrive in the afternoon."

"Oh. Okay. Gosh it's early for you," he commented.

"Well, I wish I could've flown out there even earlier."

Kurt didn't know what to say in response to that, so he kept quiet.

"Anyway," Quinn continued, "I don't think I'm going to need to use my connections to help you get an appointment with the best lawyer in town, seeing as you already know him."

"Really?" Kurt asked, curious about who it might be.

"Yeah," she replied a little hesitantly. "I'm not sure if you'll be comfortable with him, though. You might want to go to the next town over."

"Who is it?" Kurt quickly asked, not liking how Quinn was sounding. How bad could the guy be? What kind of history could Kurt have with him? Was he still a homophobe, even in the year 2029? Kurt hoped not. Maybe he was Shelby's brother or uncle or something. That would be just his luck.

"It's Karofsky," Quinn finally explained.

Kurt relaxed his shoulders, not realizing until that moment that he'd been tensing them up. "Oh, David?" he replied. "I haven't talked to him since high school. Didn't realize he'd become a lawyer," he commented thoughtfully. Kurt still remembered the time the jock had dreamt of becoming a sports agent.

"You don't sound upset with the idea of asking him for help," Quinn observed from the other end of the phone. Despite being over 2,000 miles away, she could read Kurt perfectly.

"Well, I know no one understood this, but…"

"You became friends?" Quinn asked softly.

"Well, friendly, at least," Kurt confirmed.

"I guess I get it. I mean, just look at me and Rachel," she said with a smile that Kurt could somehow hear over the phone. He then overheard an announcement in the airport indicating that boarding was beginning.

"Is that your flight?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, it is," Quinn answered.

"Alright, I'll let you go, then."

"Wait!" she replied. "Do you want me to email you his office's address? I mean, I have the info right here."

"Oh… sure," Kurt replied. "Thanks for everything you're doing," he added. He hoped she realized how above and beyond this seemed to him. She was being so helpful. She really didn't need to be. He would never have expected it.

"I just wish I could do more," Quinn said softly.

They said their goodbyes and Kurt was left staring at the phone in his hand, wondering how they had gotten to this point. He remembered thirteen years ago, when she had agreed to help Kurt and Blaine by not only providing the egg for their future baby, but also by carrying her.

"_I wouldn't do this for just anyone," she'd told them with a slight, nervous laugh._

"_Yeah," Puck had told them. "She told me she only wants to do it for you two because she knows you both really well, and she trusts you both. If she'd only known one of you, she's not sure she would have been comfortable with it. She knows you'll be amazing parents," he had told them truthfully, clearly having discussed this with Quinn at length._

"_Yeah," she'd sheepishly admitted. "With Shelby being a single parent, I knew I only had to trust one person, and somehow in the hospital that day she had won me over, but I'm older now."_

"_Wiser," Puck added with a smile._

_She blushed, clearly pleased by the compliment. "And I don't regret giving Beth to Shelby, but I probably wouldn't have done it today. I didn't know anything about her!"_

"_Well," Blaine had said, "we will owe you the world. Both of you," he'd said, turning to Puck. "I'm so glad you both are okay with doing this for us."_

_The newlywed men had excitedly headed into the IVF clinic later that day, already coming up with name ideas._

"_If it's a boy, I'm going to want to name him after Oscar Hammerstein," Kurt had half-joked._

"_Come on, Oscar? I told you, nothing more pretentious sounding than Blaine Jr.," Blaine had replied with a laugh._

* * *

><p>Burt gave Kurt a ride straight from the hospital to the address Quinn had provided. Before dropping his son off, Burt asked if it'd be okay if he took Ava back to the hospital to visit Blaine. Apparently Ava had been desperate to see her Papa ever since she'd woken up, and Kurt wasn't surprised. Smiling at the thought of how much Ava loved Blaine, Kurt had agreed that it was a good idea, especially since Blaine would probably be lonely otherwise and Kurt had no idea how long he'd be stuck trying to hire Karofsky as Blaine's lawyer. Burt told him to call Carole when he was done and needed another ride, and then he drove away.<p>

Once alone, Kurt walked up to an old house that had been converted into a law office. He read the sign:

_David Karofsky, LLC, Attorney at Law_

He knew he must be in the right place. It still looked a lot like a regular house from the outside, and he had to resist the urge to knock, reminding himself that this was a business. People were supposed to just walk in, right? He grasped the handle of the door and let himself inside. It was now nine in the morning, and the office had opened an hour prior.

Once inside, he saw a young woman, no older than twenty or so, sitting behind the reception desk.

"Hello, sir," she greeted. "How may we help you?"

Kurt was busy taking in all of his surroundings. "Um…" he hesitated. There were traces of Karofsky's sports-loving past on some of the walls, with some framed football and hockey memorabilia.

"Are you looking for a lawyer? I could schedule an appointment for you with Mr. Karofsky, if you'd like."

"Is he here today?" Kurt asked.

"Well, yes, but usually we like to schedule formal first meetings, so he has time to prepare a bit for the specifics of your case."

"Right," Kurt said, feeling worried that he should have called. He felt a bit intimidated. David had clearly created his own successful business. There were countless law books on shelves and fancy furniture in every room, including the reception desk itself. Everything was made out of a beautiful cherry wood and had a shiny finish. Dave Karofsky probably had become one of the wealthiest residents in Lima. He realized, on some level, that that really wasn't saying much. Lima was not exactly a wealthy town; his now retired dad had become very successful and respected in the community for simply owning a tire shop. Regardless, Kurt was currently unemployed, merely hoping to get hired as a costume designer. He remembered, though, why he was here, and turned back toward the receptionist.

"I'm an old friend," he said strongly, mustering up confidence he'd forgotten he'd had. He remembered he was a grown man and Karofsky had long since stopped being his bully. Kurt was proud of the life he shared in Vancouver with his husband and daughter. Kurt was here with a purpose; to do what he could to protect that life, to ensure they continued to live the happily ever after of their fairy tale.

"Oh, okay," the woman replied. "What's your name?"

"Kurt Hummel."

She picked up the receiver to her phone and paged her boss. "Mr. Karofsky? An old friend is here to see you. He says his name is Kurt Hummel."

Surprisingly quickly, the as-always husky man emerged from a room in the back, and Kurt smiled at the sight of him. He looked the same in many ways, but he also looked very mature. David smiled back.

"Kurt! Wow! Long time no see! What's up?" he greeted exuberantly.

Kurt faltered.

"Oh no, don't tell me you need a lawyer?" he asked, seriousness washing over him, his professionalism revealing itself to Kurt for the first time.

"Well, actually…" Kurt didn't even have time to finish before David had ushered him into the next room.

"Don't worry. I don't have to be in court for anyone else till next week. I have plenty of time today. Lay it all on me. What happened?"

Kurt situated himself in a seat across a table from Karofsky. "It's Blaine," he hesitantly told David. He wondered if this would be a sore subject for the man. "He's my husband now," he reminded the man, who had actually been invited to their wedding years ago. He remembered now that David had not shown up, and Kurt had never known why.

David squinted his eyes, trying to read Kurt. "Divorce? Messy custody battle?" he asked, guessing what might be happening.

"Oh, gosh, no. Nothing like that," Kurt said. He was so glad he and Blaine had been married for over a decade and were still going strong.

"Good," David replied, and he sounded sincere, much to Kurt's relief. "I hope that means you two have been happy together for a long time."

"We have," Kurt replied, and at that moment he noticed that David was wearing a wedding ring of his own. Dave followed Kurt's line of sight.

"Yeah," he commented proudly. "I'm happily married now too. Eli and I just celebrated our fifth anniversary."

"Eli?!" Kurt practically yelped, not expecting to hear that name so soon after the previous night. "He's not an orthopedic surgeon, is he?" Kurt asked hesitantly, hoping that somehow this name was just a coincidence.

David laughed. "How did you know?"

Kurt sighed. "Never mind. I guess there are only so many gay guys who stuck around in Lima, right?" he asked, somewhat rhetorically.

"Yeah." Dave chuckled. "You're certainly right about that. Hey, didn't you get out of here too?"

"I did. Blaine and I live in Vancouver with our daughter," Kurt replied. "I might as well explain why I'm here," he continued. "Basically, we were in town to visit old friends and family, and Blaine got into a car accident. He was driving."

David's face turned solemn. "Oh, so this is a criminal matter?"

"Yes," Kurt said. "Unfortunately. But it was an accident!" he stressed.

"I believe you. What's he being charged with?"

"Vehicular assault. Well…" Kurt dropped his voice by a few decibels. "It'll likely become involuntary manslaughter. He hit a girl and she's dying," he admitted.

Karofsky's eyes went wide. "Were you in the car?" he asked, looking over Kurt's body, clearly scanning to see if there was any sign of injury.

"No, it was just him," Kurt admitted. "Blaine's got a broken foot and is a bit scraped up. He needed emergency surgery last night. He's handcuffed to his hospital bed right now."

"Oh," Karofsky replied, realization dawning on him. "That's why you knew my husband was an orthopedic surgeon."

Kurt nodded, realizing David had probably been home with Dr. Eli Campbell when the surgeon had been forced to leave for his on-call duties.

"But you guys are Canadian Citizens now, right?" Karofsky asked.

Kurt nodded again. They had become legal immigrants years ago.

"Okay. Let's see if the punishment for this kind of crime is less severe up there. I need to do a little research. If it is, I can try to argue for him to be allowed to return home for his criminal trial."

"But he's innocent!" Kurt cried out. "He shouldn't have to suffer any punishment."

Karofsky smiled sympathetically. "I understand. Well… let me look into this some more. Are there any other details about the crash that you or Blaine could tell me?"

"He ran a red light," Kurt recalled. "He had a concussion too."

"Alright. You relax. I'm going to see what I can do for him."

"Thanks," Kurt replied, not relaxing at all. "But, um, he's going to have a bail hearing this afternoon. Santana is setting it up," he replied, assuming David was well aware that his former beard was a cop now.

"Oh, okay. I can be there for that too. What time will it be? And will it be in the hospital?"

Kurt nodded. "Santana said she'll get a judge to come in because Blaine's still recovering from his surgery. But she hasn't told me what time yet."

"I'll find out," Karofsky replied. "I'll be there. Don't you worry."

"Thank you," Kurt replied sincerely.

**_At this point in my fic, on AO3, (remember tinyurl DOT com/luvBigBang), I reminded everyone of totoropirate's beautiful drawing of Kurt meeting with lawyer!Karofsky in Karofsky's office. I embedded it again here. You should consider looking at it again. It's beautiful and so detailed and especially appropriate right now._**

* * *

><p>Carole and Kurt walked back into the hospital at just the right time to run into a puffy-eyed Puck, who appeared to be leaving. He clearly had just been crying, but his eyes were dry at the moment. He halted in his tracks, and looked awkwardly from Kurt to Carole.<p>

"I was just heading out to pick Quinn up from the Dayton airport," he explained. "But um, Beth just woke up!" he said with a slight smile, true happiness at this fact piercing through his heartbroken demeanor, even if only briefly.

"That's wonderful," Carole breathed.

"I hope she can hang on long enough for Quinn to see her," he said with a catch in his voice. "The doctors think she might only have… well…" he trailed off, unable to clarify just how little time his daughter had left to… be awake? To live? Kurt let the questions cross his mind but couldn't bring himself to actually ask. He watched as Carole reached her arms around Puck in a meaningful embrace. Puck was so much taller than her, so allowing her to reach his shoulders meant bending down quite a bit. Years before Kurt had entered either of their lives, Carole and Puck had met due to common connection to Finn. Kurt watched them hug and realized they had been honorary family members in each other's lives for years.

She whispered, just barely loud enough for Kurt to hear, "I'm so sorry, Noah."

Puck didn't say anything. He pulled away from the hug, forced a brief smile for her benefit, and then started quickly walking out toward the parking lot. Kurt and Carole had almost made it to the elevators when Kurt's cell phone rang.

"Puck?" Kurt asked as he answered, wondering what the guy had forgotten to say when they'd been in front of each other mere moments earlier.

"I… I love Jake," he said, starting what seemed like a non sequitur to Kurt. "I didn't even know I had a half-brother until I had already graduated high school."

Kurt could hear an engine turning over and knew the phone was connecting to Puck's rental car's Bluetooth.

"I saw your daughter yesterday," Puck reminded Kurt. "Ava has Quinn's chin. And her nose. And so does Beth," he said softly as he began driving away from the hospital.

Kurt's breath hitched in his throat, realizing where this conversation was going. "Puck," he said slowly.

Carole watched Kurt carefully, patiently waiting to find out what was going on.

"She's awake right now," Puck said. "This is Ava's only chance. _Beth_'s only chance. They should meet each other. Please consider it," he begged. "I just know if it was Jake, and I'd never gotten a chance to meet him…" he never finished his sentence, but Kurt understood the sentiment.

"I don't know if Shelby will approve of it, though," Kurt replied softly. "I mean, she _blames _Blaine, and…"

"Tell her to talk to me, then," Puck insisted.

"Okay," Kurt replied, and the way it came out, it basically sounded like a promise. Ava was going to meet Beth before she died. It was something Puck thought was necessary, and Kurt didn't feel like he had a right to say no. He thought about his beautiful daughter meeting her biological half-sister under the current circumstances and a few tears escaped down his cheeks as he hung up from the call.

"Kurt?" Carole asked softly, wondering what was wrong. Kurt reached out to press the elevator button, ready to go to the fourth floor.

"Puck thinks Ava should meet Beth," Kurt explained. They stepped inside.

Carole's lips curled into a soft smile. "That does sound like a nice idea," she replied. As the elevator doors closed, giving them a few moments of privacy, she reached out and pulled him into a small side hug. "We're all going to make it through this, I promise you," she whispered into his shoulder. She was acting so motherly toward him that in the moment he completely forgot she was only his stepmother, letting the warmth of her comfort wash over him. It was almost the same exact feeling as when he'd been comforted by his father the night before. He was so glad to be back home in Lima when all of this was happening, because at least he had his parents. He wondered if he should try to get Blaine's to come down. Or Cooper. He knew Blaine had always been closer to Burt and Carole than his own family, but at a time like this maybe Blaine needed his own flesh and blood to comfort him.

The elevator doors opened. Kurt led Carole to Blaine's room, and Ava immediately ran into Kurt's embrace as Carole greeted Blaine for the first time since his accident. Kurt squeezed Ava tightly.

"I need to talk to your Papa about some things really quickly," he told her softly as they pulled away. "Can you and Grandpa maybe go get a snack from the vending machine? I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving," he added with a smirk.

"Sure," Burt answered for her. "Come on, Ava."

She quickly followed, leaving Carole, Kurt, and Blaine alone in the room.

"So…" Kurt began nervously. "Puck just told me that Beth has woken up briefly." Blaine smiled upon hearing that news. Kurt continued, "He also said that he thinks Ava needs to meet her, before she… um…" Kurt couldn't manage to say the final word in that sentence.

"Before she dies?" Blaine finished gravely. He was taking this better than Kurt had expected. "I was actually thinking the same thing," Blaine admitted.

Kurt smiled. "Okay, so then should we tell Ava together?"

"Together," Blaine agreed.

"Oh also," Kurt remembered. "David Karofsky is going to be your lawyer. He said he'd be here for the bail hearing this afternoon."

Blaine looked up at Kurt with wide eyes. "Wow. Lima really is a small town," he commented before bursting into laughter, the narcotics obviously making Blaine a bit loopier than he would've been otherwise.

"Oh, you don't even know the half of it," Kurt replied with a chuckle.


	4. Beth

Chapter 4: Beth

Carole and Burt waited in the hospital hallway as Kurt and Blaine tried to explain the entire situation to Ava. They tried to be strong for her, but it was hard, and once Blaine, who was feeling responsible for the whole tragic mess, started to cry, Kurt and Ava both couldn't help but shed a few tears too.

"I think it's time," Kurt finally said. He looked from his husband to his daughter, eyes settling on her and waiting to gauge her reaction. "I'm pretty sure I would have heard if it were too late already," he said, glancing down at the cell phone in his hand which had not received any new calls since Puck had first left the hospital. "So um, while we still can…"

"I'm ready," Ava told him. She turned to Blaine. "I'm ready to meet her."

"Alright," Kurt said, wishing Ava was still a few years younger, so that it would still be appropriate for him to grab her hand and hold onto it tightly. Instead, he simply stood in front of his twelve-year-old and said, "Let's go find out what floor Beth is on."

"I'll see you two later," Blaine said.

Kurt turned back and nodded, then wiped away a stray tear that had still been lingering on his own face. By the time Kurt had turned back toward Ava, she was already a few strides ahead of him, heading toward the information desk, ready to find out what room her sister was in.

Kurt had almost caught up to her when he spotted Karofsky heading in his direction. "Ava, Honey?" he called out. "Can you find out where she is while I tell Papa's lawyer what's going on?"

"Sure, Dad," she replied. Karofsky smiled at the interaction.

"Damn," he commented. "She looks just like you."

Kurt blushed. "Um, thanks." He always felt equally proud and guilty whenever anyone mentioned that his daughter looked like him, because he wished she could look like Blaine too. But he quickly pushed those thoughts from his mind. "Blaine's in room 408," Kurt told him.

"Yeah, I just found out," Karofsky replied, gesturing toward the information desk that Ava was currently in front of. "So, Blaine wasn't drinking, was he?"

"No."

"Okay, good," Karofsky said. "I was looking up some case rulings and in Tampa, Florida there was a case exactly like this last month that got ruled just an accident, so I'm hoping I can convince a judge-"

"Dad! It's just one floor down!" Ava yelled from two yards away. Kurt felt his cheeks turn slightly red due to his overly loud daughter making a bit of a scene in the hospital hallway. She was already pressing the button on the elevator.

"I have to go." Kurt awkwardly told his old acquaintance. "You can discuss all of this with Blaine, though, for sure. Sounds great. Thank you so much."

"Of course," Karofsky replied. He looked over at Kurt's daughter who was now impatiently holding the door open for her father.

"Dad! Come on!"

"I'm coming!" he called back, a little quieter.

Karofsky headed toward Blaine's room as Kurt and Ava disappeared into the elevator. Kurt glanced over in time to see Burt and David awkwardly exchange glances of recognition with each other. Then, the doors shut, completely blocking Kurt's view.

Ava began to ask, in a very small voice, "Have you ever talked to someone who was dying before?"

Kurt immediately pictured that fateful day when he'd been only eight years old. "Yeah. When my mom died," he said softly. The memory was burned into his mind.

"What did you say?"

Kurt blinked his eyes shut and thought about how best to answer this question. The elevator doors opened back up for them and they headed out into the third floor hallway.

"It was different," he finally told her. "She was my mom. You… you've never met Beth before." He willed his voice not to break. "So, I'd focus on how this is a first time for both of you, not a last. Just say hello. That you're glad to be meeting her," he said with a smile. He didn't know which room she was in, but he was following his daughter, who seemed to be paying attention to the numbers. "This will be really hard, but I'll be right outside. Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

They stopped outside a room and Kurt saw Shelby inside. He had only seen her a few times before in his high school's hallways, plus more recently in a few of Rachel's photographs. He also saw the injured nineteen-year-old girl in bed, so pale and fragile, shivering under a blanket despite it being fairly warm in the hospital. Kurt's memory jumped back to when Quinn had been in her car accident in high school and he'd come to visit her. Quinn hadn't looked quite this bad, but somehow this still felt like déjà vu. Puck was right; Beth did have the same chin and nose as Quinn. She was also the right age to look remarkably like the Quinn he remembered from senior year. And despite how he'd never seen Quinn or Beth when they had been middle-schoolers, he realized Puck was also right to think that Ava had those same features. In some small way, this was a glimpse into his daughter's future and how she'd look when she was all grown up.

"Let me ask Beth's mom if it's okay for you to see her, okay?" Kurt said, looking back down at his beautiful daughter. He and Blaine had already warned Ava that they had not talked to Shelby or Beth about this yet, and that it would be a surprise.

Ava nodded as Shelby first noticed the pair standing outside of the door. Shelby got up from the chair at Beth's bedside and started heading toward them.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked harshly, glaring at Kurt. He had been bracing himself for the woman to not be kind or understanding, but he still didn't feel prepared for this kind of attitude from her. He was actually surprised she recognized him at all. They had never had a conversation before, but then he realized Rachel probably had shown her plenty of photographs over the years.

Kurt tried to remember that anger was only natural at a time like this. Her daughter was dying. Any reaction was understandable, including this one.

"I wanted to ask your permission for, um, Ava to meet Beth," Kurt started to explain. "I mean, they're technically related. Biologically," Kurt hastily added, hoping the woman who was now approaching age sixty would understand. He started to pay too much attention to how her hair looked; it was the same as it had always looked. He let himself get distracted, wondering when she had begun dyeing it. It must be dyed.

"Okay," Shelby replied, pulling him out of his irrelevant thoughts. "What did you say your daughter's name was?" she said, glancing down at Ava.

"I'm Ava," she answered for herself, speaking up. She reached out a hand for a handshake, and Shelby grasped it.

"And I'm Shelby," she replied. "Go ahead, you can talk to Beth. I'm sure she'd love to meet you."

Ava walked inside of the room nervously as Kurt and Shelby both waited by the door.

"Hi," he heard his daughter's high-pitched voice nervously greet the girl in the bed. "I'm Ava. I'm your half-sister," she explained softly.

Kurt saw Beth smile and although he couldn't hear what she replied, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Ava sitting down in the chair Shelby had been in and pulling it up close to the bed. They had a hushed conversation that was too far away for Kurt to hear. Everything was going fine. They were talking, and smiling, and was that Ava laughing? Kurt glanced up at Shelby and saw that her facial expression had softened. She was looking on at the girls with a sort of fondness that Kurt was also feeling. The only thing these girls had in common was their birth mother, and Kurt was surprised at how even without Ava having met Quinn, these girls could instantly bond over that simple connection.

One of the monitors Beth was hooked up to started beeping loudly, and Ava's face flashed with terror. Kurt's eyes went wide as he stepped out of the way for a doctor to enter the room. He waited for Ava to re-join him outside, but Ava stayed in the room, not seeming able to budge. Beth's eyes were still open, but she was gasping for breath. Kurt hoped the doctors could do something to help her. He hoped Beth would be able to hang on until Quinn got a chance to see her. The beeping slowly started to quiet down as the beeps became farther apart. Kurt cautiously became hopeful. Beth appeared to still be awake, despite the fact that she now had an oxygen mask on her face. Maybe it wasn't the end, not just yet. He saw Ava smile hugely and walk over to Beth. She said something quietly and then proceeded to turn around and head back out of the room, toward Kurt. Behind her Shelby sat herself back down in that chair and lovingly placed her daughter's hand between both of her own. Kurt looked back down at Ava and realized she was shaking.

"I think we need to let her rest now," she informed her father.

Kurt nodded and led her a few steps away from the room. Then he pulled her close to his body in a comforting embrace. "You did such a good job," he said softly. "You were so strong. I'm really proud of you." He felt her start to shake more, clearly beginning to cry. He kept holding onto her, waiting for the worst of the tears to pass.

After a minute, Ava broke away from the hug, sniffling. "I told her the story you and Papa always tell me about how you came up with my middle name."

"Elizabeth," Kurt breathed.

"Yeah, after your mom who died," Ava reminded him, knowing that fact all too well. "But I told her since her name was Beth too, that now I'd always remember her too whenever I thought about my middle name."

Kurt felt a tear escape from his eye. "That's a really good idea, sweetheart."

Ava smiled, clearly grateful he agreed. Her crying had transitioned into a silent cascade of tears. "Is she really going to die?" she asked, reaching up with her hand to attempt to dry her face. "The doctors helped her breathe again. Maybe she'll be okay!"

"Yeah, maybe," Kurt replied in a not-very-convincing tone. "But let's not get our hopes too high, okay?" he said softly.

Kurt led her back toward the elevators, watching as she slowly stopped crying altogether.

* * *

><p>Puck and Quinn ended up arriving back at the hospital right around the same time the judge had entered Blaine's hospital room for the sake of his bail hearing. They had texted Kurt to let him know and Kurt was glad they had made it there in time. He looked back at the judge. He was wearing a typical black robe and Kurt half-expected him to have one of those gavels seen in the movies. He seemed out of place, and there weren't enough chairs in the room, even with his parents having taken Ava home already, and the judge was pulling over the tray used to serve bedridden patients their meals, wanting to use it as his own desk.<p>

When Quinn had said Karofsky was the best lawyer in town, Kurt hadn't quite known what to expect, but as he watched the man argue that a bail hearing was ridiculous in the first place because Blaine shouldn't have been charged with a crime, Kurt was awestruck. He glanced over at his husband whose facial expression reflected a similar sentiment. Karofsky was _good_. He knew exactly what to say. He wasn't just bringing up last month's case in Tampa, Florida, but also many similar cases in which someone had run a red light in Ohio over the past five years that had also been ruled accidents, sometimes when the drivers had even consumed small quantities of alcohol. Kurt felt sure Karofsky would succeed in his argument. He was probably very expensive too. How could Kurt have forgotten to discuss how much he'd be paying Karofsky? It was David's fault. He was the person who was supposed to have brought it up. Getting paid was supposed to be his priority. Kurt tried not to think about that right now.

The judge seemed to consider his options carefully. He looked at Blaine, and Kurt hoped Blaine was giving off 'definitely didn't commit any crime' vibes. Maybe they wouldn't end up having to pay bail. Maybe all charges would be dropped.

Unfortunately, right before the judge seemed prepared to make his ruling, a young cop entered the room. He couldn't have been much older than Beth herself. He approached the sorry excuse for a court "bench" and leaned in to whisper something in the ear of the man who held all of the power. The judge nodded.

"Alright," he announced. "I have just been informed that Beth Corcoran, the victim in this case, has died."

Kurt took a few steps in order to get close enough to his husband to grab his hand.

"The set bail in Ohio cases for Vehicular Assault is $10,000," the judge continued. Kurt clasped Blaine's hand tightly, and glanced down at him, who now was shaking a little, utterly terrified. Kurt's chest felt tight with his own feelings of fear tangled with fresh grief.

"However, with her death, charges have now been changed. Blaine Anderson, you have been accused of involuntary manslaughter. The typical bail for this crime is $30,000." Kurt gasped. How could bail be so much? They didn't have this kind of money!

Karofsky quickly scribbled something down on a piece of paper and then handed it to Kurt as the judge kept talking.

"I appreciate that Blaine might be innocent, but that is what the due process of a criminal trial is for. A jury of his peers, or a single judge - it is your choice - will be able to hear all of the facts and then determine if a 'not guilty' verdict is deserved."

Kurt read the note that was now in his hand.

_With a bail bondsman, you will only have to pay 10% of whatever bail is set._

Kurt nodded appreciatively, although Karofsky was now busy looking at the judge. Three thousand dollars would still be a lot, but at least he wouldn't be forced to find _thirty_ thousand.

"Blaine Anderson, I now declare your bail set at $30,000. Since you are a Canadian citizen, please realize that you must remain in this country until the date of your trial, which has been set for one month from today on Tuesday, August 21, 2029. Your doctor informed me that you will be released from the hospital on Thursday?"

Blaine nodded to confirm this fact. He was supposed to be able to go home the day after tomorrow.

"Well then, you will be transferred to a county jail, unless your husband has paid your bail by then."

Blaine nodded again.

"Sir, you need to verbally confirm that you understand what is required of you."

"I understand," he said.

"Thank you. Court is dismissed," he concluded, standing up from behind the hospital tray and proceeding to leave the room. He paused briefly.

"Dave?" he called out casually and suddenly Kurt realized this judge and lawyer knew each other personally, and that without the pretense of professional roles they were required to play between them, they were friends.

"What's up?" Karofsky replied, heading over toward the man. Kurt realized he shouldn't eavesdrop and turned back toward Blaine.

"$30,000? I'm stuck here for a month in jail, then," Blaine said with a resigned sigh. "I wouldn't have been able to start filming for Modern Greek Gods anyway," he said with a mirthless laugh, gesturing toward his foot.

"Hey, hey," Kurt said, stopping him. "David passed me this note." He handed it to Blaine. "We can get you $3,000. My dad can probably help out since we're here in the states. Don't worry. I'm not letting you go to jail."

Blaine smiled weakly. "My parents probably should help out with that money, not yours. I'm the one who's going to end up in jail otherwise. And who knows what they do with guys who can't walk when they're in jail?"

"They put you in a wheelchair in a disabled ward of the prison," Karofsky explained, having returned to their sides. "They are equipped to handle that situation, but you don't need to worry about that right now."

"So involuntary manslaughter," Blaine commented. "How much prison time am I facing if I'm found guilty?" he asked, nervously.

Karofsky shot him a sympathetic smile. "Worst case scenario? For a third degree felony like this, five years."

Blaine closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"That's not going to happen," Kurt quickly said, trying to reassure him. "Right?" he asked Karofsky. "You'll make sure that doesn't happen?"

David nodded. "Well, we have a few options here. If you're found guilty here, the minimum sentence is a year. If you plead guilty, that's what you'll get. It'd be a year here, though, in a prison far away from your family," he explained to Blaine softly, shifting his gaze meaningfully toward Kurt. "I could argue for you to be allowed to go back to Canada, so that if you end up in prison, it'll be the closest prison to your house."

Kurt couldn't believe what he was hearing. Prison was a real possibility that Karofsky didn't think they could necessarily avoid. Blaine would end up in prison? Kurt would have to bring Ava to visit him _in prison?_

Karofsky continued, "The equivalent crime you'd end up being charged with in Canada is Criminal Negligence Causing Death, and I'm not an expert on Canadian law, so you should probably consult with a lawyer in your city of residence just to be sure, but from what I can tell…" he shuffled his papers around, looking for something specific. "Yeah, you'd likely get under two years for this kind of crime, if found guilty. If the death had been caused by a gun, it would be a minimum of four years… but you didn't use a gun, so yeah, under two. However," Karofsky added, "the maximum sentence here in the U.S. is five years for this crime. In Canada, there is no maximum sentence, so technically it is possible to get up to, um… 'Life', which up there means ten years without a chance of parole."

Kurt's head was spinning, and he imagined Blaine's was too.

"For now, let's work on getting you out on bail," Karofsky commented softly. "We can deal with the rest of this another day."

* * *

><p>A few hours later, Kurt was preparing to leave the hospital. Burt and Carole had taken Ava home in Carole's car, and Burt had left his keys with his son. Kurt was glad to be able to transport himself where he needed to. He had to go meet Blaine's parents at the bail bondsman's office before the place closed for the night. <em>Smith Bonds &amp; Surety<em> seemed like the place to go if you were in any city or town in the state of Ohio and happened to need help getting your family member bailed out of jail.

Kurt was nervous, never having gotten along very well with the Andersons. They were polite enough; they just didn't seem to fully respect Kurt. He'd always suspected he had been just a bit too flamboyant for their taste, and that they had never met any other men in their life who skirted acceptable gender norms or pursued a fashion-related career. He also could tell they had never quite gotten over the fact that Blaine had not turned out straight, and they had seemed disappointed when Ava was three and had begun to look too much like Kurt to be biologically Blaine's.

Kurt had tried to tell Blaine they had the equivalent of _five_ thousand American dollars in their bank account for emergency situations such as this one, but the doctor had told Blaine it'd be six weeks before he could even begin putting weight on his foot again. This caused Blaine to worry that he might be replaced as the lead in his new show, and with Kurt still being unemployed, Blaine thought asking for help was the wise move. They should save their rainy day funds for paying for groceries just in case both men remained jobless for a few months. But Blaine had insisted they be asked to help him.

"This is what parents are for, right?" he had then said. "To bail you out of jail?"

Kurt shook his head. "You should remember you that that when Ava gets into crazy trouble as a teenager," he teased.

Blaine laughed. "Yeah, right."

Blaine began physical therapy to learn how to use crutches correctly, including if he had to use them to get up or down stairs. The young cop outside the room had temporarily removed the handcuff. Kurt stared at his husband's wrist for a few moments, which was beginning to look very red and raw. Kurt's heart ached for him and he hoped Blaine would be officially bailed out early the next day so that he would no longer have to torture his wrist like that.

"Do you want me to stop back later?" Kurt asked.

"No," Blaine replied. "I'll see you tomorrow. You should go back to your dad's. Get some sleep on a real bed."

"Alright," Kurt replied. "See you tomorrow."

When he got down to the hospital lobby, he was surprised to see Shelby still in the lobby. Puck and Quinn likely had left hours ago, but here she was. She had a distant look in her eyes, like she hadn't cried yet. Like she was still in complete shock about what had happened to her daughter. Nervously, Kurt walked up to her.

"I heard about Beth," he said simply. "I'm really sorry."

"It's your _husband_ who should be sorry," she snapped back harshly.

Kurt stood his ground. "Blaine didn't… Blaine never would have meant to do this. People run red lights all the time," he tried to explain, remembering Karofsky's legal arguments from earlier. "It was just an accident. Please, drop these charges," he said quietly. He didn't want to beg, but if there was even a slight chance it might work, he had to try. "You just met Ava. Don't you think she deserves for her father to not be in prison?"

Shelby quietly considered what he said, and Kurt was surprised she was listening to him at all. He waited patiently, wondering if thoughts about Beth were distracting her from actually responding to his plea. Finally, she looked at him carefully.

"Okay," she said, sounding defeated.

"Okay?" He was confused.

"Okay," she repeated, before elaborating. "I'll tell the police to drop the charges. I guess you're right. Beth liked Ava. She wouldn't have wanted this."

Kurt couldn't believe it. This was actually happening? Shelby was relenting?

"Um, I'm gonna go back and tell Blaine," he said, spinning in his tracks to return to the elevator. Gosh, he didn't want to keep the Andersons waiting and make them dislike him even more than they already did, but this was _news_.

While he waited for the elevator to arrive back at the lobby level, he turned to look back at Shelby, wanting to mouth 'Thank you' toward her. But she was looking off into space in another direction. She was lost in a look of fresh grief. Kurt understood. He let her go, ready to tell Blaine the good news.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Kurt awoke in what had been his bedroom back in high school, and he felt very out of place. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and opened his tablet, beginning his morning internet routine out of habit. He found new email from Puck. Apparently Beth's funeral had already been scheduled for Friday, which was only a day away. Ava was explicitly invited, as was anyone who wanted to come. The email mentioned that Shelby had expressed permission for Blaine to show up, if he was accompanying his daughter.<p>

Kurt carefully replied with his condolences and said he'd ask his daughter what she wanted to do. He got out of bed and decided to get dressed, since he was only wearing boxers and didn't feel comfortable walking around in front of his parents like this. In the winter, Kurt loved pajamas, and lately had been actually designing and sewing his own, but during hot summer nights, especially down here in Ohio, Kurt preferred to sleep practically nude.

Ava was already downstairs with Carole, who was serving her a second portion of pancakes.

"This isn't like the fancy maple syrup Papa likes to buy," she commented after swallowing a forkful, and Kurt noticed the Aunt Jemima brand 'pancake syrup' on the table, smiling.

"Yeah, well, Canadians are proud of our _authentic_ maple syrup, and your Papa never was a fan of this corn-syrup based substitute, anyway."

"I know," Carole chimed in. "Last summer when he was here in the morning, he said it was too sweet, and didn't have enough flavor."

Kurt smiled fondly, knowing that was exactly what his husband would always say. But then he remembered what he had read in his email before coming downstairs.

"Ava, sweetie," he said somberly.

She looked up at him. "Yes?"

"I don't know if you know, but… Beth died yesterday afternoon."

Ava nodded sadly, biting her lip. "Yeah, Grandma told me," she said, looking up at Carole, who nodded.

"I talked to Noah," she explained. Kurt knew she probably had been the one to call him, concerned after seeing him in the hospital lobby.

"Alright," he said, glad she already knew and that she'd had a little bit of time for this tragic news to sink in. "So, well, the funeral is being planned for tomorrow."

"Oh. Are we going to go?" she asked.

"Well, that's what I wanted to ask you," he replied. "I know you've never been to a funeral before. And you didn't know Beth very well, so if you didn't want to go, it'd be understanda-"

"I want to go," she said, cutting him off. "I really want to be there."

"Okay, well, if you're sure."

She nodded vigorously. "I wish I could have gotten to know her better, but maybe I can learn more about her if I'm there."

"You're probably right, sweetie," Kurt replied, understanding. He looked down at her plate. "Your pancakes are getting cold," he commented, reminding her that she probably wanted to finish eating her breakfast. He thought about Beth and wondered if she had liked pancakes as much as Ava did. Kurt was never a big fan of them, preferring a less rich, simple meal like a bowl of Cheerios with cut-up strawberries. He wondered if it was possible that Ava had gotten her love of pancakes from Quinn. And if maybe Beth had acquired a similar taste. They'd both never know, he sadly realized. He had always thought having Finn as a brother for less than three years hadn't really been enough. But his heart now ached for his daughter, who'd ended up gaining a sister for less than three _hours_. He and Blaine had named her Ava Elizabeth and Quinn's first daughter hadn't even crossed their minds. Life was funny that way, sometimes. Beth. Elizabeth. She had ended up with a name that honored her sister too, and it hadn't even been purposeful. He realized he, too, wished to learn more about Beth. He felt oddly grateful that he would be able to attend her funeral too.


	5. Broken

Chapter 5: Broken

Kurt spent half an hour in the upstairs hallway bathroom teaching his daughter the skin-care ritual he'd started using back when he was around her age. He chose that particular morning to teach her the routine because he was feeling nostalgic – being back in this house always did that to him – but also because he was feeling desperate for something nice to do to break up the sadness and stress of the week. It didn't really work, though, because as they both finished rubbing a beautifully perfumed shea butter concoction onto their own respective arms, she asked permission to wear make-up to the funeral the next day.

"No," Kurt told her softly. "I'm sorry, but you know our rules. With the exception of stage performances," he explained, remembering when she had been in ballet recitals and a few school musicals, "you have to wait till high school before you're allowed to start wearing make-up."

"But couldn't I just wear Grandma's blush, or something? She's going to take me out later to buy a black dress."

Kurt had appreciated when Carole had offered to do that, since his daughter hadn't included anything appropriate for a funeral when she'd packed for the trip.

"I want to look pretty," she pleaded.

"You always look pretty," he assured her. He knew she was an objectively pretty person, something he was sure was at least partially thanks to her mother, and he hoped she never truly doubted that fact. He had heard, second-hand from Finn and then years later from Rachel, that Quinn had spent many years of her life struggling with body-image issues, despite Quinn being one of the most gorgeous women he'd ever seen in his life.

"You definitely will look extra pretty," he added, "if you're wearing a new, nice dress. How about you ask to borrow a piece of Grandma's jewelry instead?" he suggested. His girl had gotten her ears pierced two years ago, as a gift for graduating elementary school. She'd been complaining for years that she was one of the very last girls in her class to have non-pierced ears.

"Grandma probably only has old-lady jewelry," she protested, not liking the idea much. Kurt chuckled, glad Carole was downstairs and too far away to hear the insult to her age.

"Well, did you pack any of your own?" he asked, knowing she had a small collection of bracelets, necklaces, and earrings in a jewelry box back in Vancouver.

"No, I forgot," she admitted.

"Alright," he said. "Well then there's no harm in asking to look at what Grandma has to choose from. Maybe you'll be surprised. But no make-up. Just jewelry," he insisted.

"Fine, Dad."

A few minutes later, he was driving his father's car back to the hospital, needing to stop at a red light on the way there, and as a car passed through the intersection perpendicular to him, suddenly his vision blurred with tears. _Mom. Blaine. Beth. Red lights._ Thoughts flew through his mind faster than he could catch up to them. Deadly accidents were far too common. He hated this. He hated cars, and intersections. He wished the world would just give him a break.

As if to spite him, his cell phone then rang, and he answered it through the Bluetooth connection in his dad's car. After saying 'Hello', he dried his eyes hastily, calming himself down in order to be a safe driver again when the light turned green. The woman on the other end of the line informed him that his and Blaine's shared auto insurance did not cover out-of-the-country rental car accidents. _Great._ He yelled at the worker on the other end that he and Blaine did not have the kind of money the rental company was asking for and then asked if they could please discuss this matter next week. He apologized and said it was just a bad time and that a family member had just died. It wasn't _really_ a lie. In a way, Beth was Ava's family, and anyone who was related to Ava was related to him too, by extension. The woman apologized and they disconnected.

He let out a frustrated sigh as he pulled into the parking lot and walked back into the hospital. When he got to Blaine's room, he paused, taking in the new sight. His husband now had a bright purple permanent cast on his foot, but that wasn't actually the first thing Kurt noticed. The first thing he noticed was the fact that Blaine, who was lying on his side and had his eyes closed, seemed to be crying into his pillow. He was emitting very quiet, but clearly heavy, sobs. Hurriedly, Kurt went to his husband's side.

"Baby, what is it?" he asked, softly. Kurt gently started stroking his husband's shoulder. He was pleased to see the bruises on Blaine's body looked like they were healing. He didn't look as bad off as he had two days prior. But regardless of how Blaine was physically doing, emotionally he looked utterly broken, which in turn was breaking Kurt's heart.

Flustered, Blaine started wiping at his tears using his right hand, and that was when Kurt noticed that his left one was still handcuffed.

"They haven't freed you yet?" he asked, concerned. It was almost 10:00 am. The bail bondsmen had told him and the Andersons that around 9:00 am he should be freed.

After he had somewhat calmed down, although a few silent tears were still flowing, Blaine began to explain. "Well, you know I'm on oxycodone and it makes me feel like I'm overtired all the time." As if he was only crying because of the drugs, and not because of any actual reasons.

"Blaine, honey. Talk to me."

"It's Beth. She's dead and it's all my fault!" He burst into hysterical sobs again, and Kurt tried to gently stroke his shoulder to comfort him.

"Shh, shh. It's okay, honey. You didn't mean to do it. It was just a horrible accident."

Blaine caught his breath. "Also, by the way, Karofsky stopped by, 'regretting to inform me' that it didn't matter if Shelby was dropping the charges. The case is not Shelby Corcoran vs. Blaine Anderson, it's The State of Ohio vs. me, and, and…" The crying took over.

Kurt did his best to comfort him, but he didn't know what to say. The criminal charges weren't being dropped.

"But you still should be bailed out by now," Kurt realized. "I went with your parents last night, just in case."

"Oh yeah," Blaine replied. "And my parents dropped by right before you came here," he said, and suddenly Kurt understood why Blaine was overcome with emotion. His parents were not the warmest of folks. They had probably implied it was all his fault and he _deserved _this, and the drugs he was on had just exacerbated the emotions.

"Oh, Blaine," Kurt softly commented. "It's gonna be okay, it's all gonna be okay. You're not going to go to prison. I won't let that happen."

"I don't care about prison!" he exclaimed. "I killed Beth. I killed Ava's sister. How can my daughter ever _look_ at me again?"

"Honey, Ava doesn't blame you."

"Well, she should."

Kurt decided to change the subject, because he didn't think he'd be able to talk Blaine out of that line of thought at this moment in time. "So Karofsky stopped by?"

"Yeah, he said he would have waited with me for you to arrive, but he had promised his son he'd take him to the park."

"He has a son?"

"Yeah, he and Eli do. I mean, Dr. Campbell," Blaine hastily corrected. "Did you know they were married?" he asked.

Kurt nodded.

"It's just so crazy. He came in to create this cast," Blaine said, gesturing toward his foot, "and Karofsky was still here, and they explained to me that they were each other's spouses, and… gosh, Kurt. I never thought I'd see either of these guys again."

"I know," Kurt replied.

"I hated myself for being with Eli. You have no idea."

"I have some idea," Kurt contradicted. He was well aware of how much Blaine had regretted being unfaithful. They hadn't discussed this since their NYADA days. It was ancient history. They had gotten past it. But this week was turning everything upside down, and these old wounds now felt fresh. Kurt couldn't deny that it was a bit painful, thinking about_ Eli_ being Blaine's doctor. Kurt couldn't help being uncomfortable by the thought of _that man_ touching his husband's body again, albeit in a very different context this time around. But it was a fact that Kurt had come to accept.

Santana, again in her cop uniform, appeared in the room's doorway. "I'm here to reclaim some handcuffs from a Mr. Blair… Anders?" she joked, pretending she didn't know the man, nor how to pronounce his pretty straightforward name.

"Ha ha. Very funny," Kurt replied. He turned to Blaine. "So I guess the police were just running late," he said.

"Yeah," Blaine replied with a smile. "At least I'm bailed out until my trial in a month," he said, trying to sound happy, but not really convincing Kurt.

"And in time to go to Beth's funeral tomorrow," Kurt added.

"What?" Blaine said, shocked.

"Yeah, Ava wants to go, and Shelby said we're all welcome there."

Santana stood there awkwardly, still in the room.

"Um, Blaine," she interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"Here's some paperwork about the crime of which you're accused," she said, handing him a packet of stapled-together sheets.

"I'll take them," Kurt offered, reaching out his hand. He looked down at the official documents, and then started leafing through them. There was information about the location of the accident, the exact nature of all of Beth's injuries that Blaine was being deemed 'at fault' for, and more.

Santana started heading out of the room. "Brittany and I will stop by Judy's house after the funeral, tomorrow, and say hi," she informed Kurt. "Offer our condolences to Puck and Quinn, you know."

"It'll be at Mrs. Fabray's house?" Kurt asked, confused.

"Yeah, she offered to host the after-funeral refreshments thing. Shelby lives in a small apartment and besides, she just lost her daughter. Better to have a person who isn't grieving the same way do it."

"Right," Kurt replied. Santana waved goodbye to both of them as she disappeared into the hallway.

"I… I'm sorry, Kurt. I just don't think I can go," Blaine stammered.

"Why not?" Kurt asked, concerned. "Is it your foot?"

"Well, sure, there's that. I need to keep this thing elevated at all times, so I don't think I could sit in a funeral for an hour. But more importantly, I'm the reason she's dead," he explained, quietly. He seemed on the verge of tears once again. "I can't be there."

"Blaine," Kurt tried to protest.

"No," he insisted. "This isn't happening. You take Ava. I'll stay with your parents or something. They'll keep me company, right?"

"Of course they will," Kurt replied. He looked over at Blaine thoughtfully, wishing he could say something to make him feel less guilty for Beth's death.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Kurt arrived at the playground he remembered his mom had taken him to before she'd died, hoping this was the park where Karofsky would have taken his son. This was the most popular spot for young children in Lima. He looked around, scanning for any sign of the former jock. He found him sitting on a bench across from a young boy on the swing set and started approaching them. He noticed the boy had very tan skin, like maybe he was Latino. Dave noticed the shorter man when Kurt had gotten to within a few feet of his bench.<p>

"Kurt! Hey! What's up?" They both glanced back toward the boy on the swing. He was pushing himself to go higher and higher, clearly having a lot of fun. "That's Andy, by the way. We adopted him when he was two," he explained.

"He's cute," Kurt replied, smiling. The boy looked like he was roughly the same age are Artie's Ben. "Blaine told me that even though Shelby dropped the charges, he is still being prosecuted."

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Isn't there something we can do?"

"Well, we can talk to the District Attorney's office and see if we can convince _them_, the prosecution, to drop the charges."

"Okay," Kurt replied. "What are we waiting for?"

Dave looked over toward his son, gesturing. "I'm kind of busy today. How about I work on the case tomorrow and we can call them on Monday to see what we can do?"

Kurt sighed. That made sense. He _had_ just ambushed the guy on what was clearly a planned 'day off'. But he was worried Blaine wouldn't be able to handle waiting even that long.

"Have fun with your son," Kurt said as he parted ways with Karofsky.

"Thanks," Dave replied.

* * *

><p>Kurt hadn't exactly planned it, but somehow he ended up at the intersection of streets he'd read about in the papers that were currently sitting on the passenger's seat of his dad's car; the traffic light at North Sugar Street and Bible Road. He'd driven here a few times before. He remembered scoffing at the name of the latter road the first time he'd come across it. This town was way too Christian for his taste.<p>

This intersection wasn't on the way to most of the main attractions in Lima; he hadn't had to travel it to get to school, the mall, or Breadstix when he was growing up in this town, but over those eighteen years of his life he'd been on almost every street in Lima for some reason or another. He couldn't quite recall his reasoning for having been here before. He parallel parked and stepped out, looking at the intersection which had long since been cleared of the wreckage. This hadn't been where Beth died, not exactly, but it still felt eerie, standing so close to where something so horrible had happened. How many people would drive past in the coming year and never know that a horrific accident had happened here, an accident that had resulted in a teenager's death? She had been legally an adult, but Kurt remembered being nineteen. She was just a child.

Something on the ground a few feet away caught Kurt's eye as it reflected in the sunlight, and he stepped closer to it, trying to get a better look. Carefully, he reached down and picked it up. It had been right by the curb and must have been missed by the cleaning crew. It was a piece of a headlight, he now realized. The broken glass shimmered and threatened to cut his hand if he wasn't careful, so he handled it delicately. Then he heard a voice behind him.

"There was a horrible accident here a few days ago," a woman informed Kurt, realizing what he must be looking at was a remnant from that. He turned to look at her, and saw that she was elderly, her short curly hair white as snow. She was wearing a sweater, which caused Kurt to think she had not noticed the seventy degree weather. She was sipping a glass of iced tea.

"Yeah, I know," Kurt replied loud enough for her to hear. "My… husband was in the accident," he explained, always feeling awkward coming out to older folks, especially in a town like Lima. He figured the majority of them were still at least a little awkward around people who fell on the LGBT spectrum.

"I knew something like this would happen one of these days," she commented. "I'd been trying to get them to fix that light for weeks now. But it had to take a tragedy for them to get called into action."

"What?" Kurt asked, confused.

She nodded up toward the lights. "Some fluke," she explained. "It had started going from green to red, no yellow in the middle."

"What? Really?" Kurt asked. He couldn't believe this. Traffic lights could malfunction in such a horrible way?

"Yes, dear," she confirmed. He looked up at the lights, wondering if they were still broken.

"They fixed it already," she said, reading his mind. Sure enough, he saw the light switch from green to yellow as he stood there below them.

"Were you the witness who told the cops my husband had run a red light?" he asked, trying not to sound angry. If she had _known_ this was a problem, why hadn't the police report mentioned it? Did _she_ not think it was relevant when relaying what she'd observed to the police?

"Yes, dear, I was."

"Did you tell them about the broken traffic light?"

"Of course," she replied, a bit taken aback.

Just then the suddenly dark gray sky flashed, and about ten seconds later a loud crack echoed around them.

"The forecast did call for a thunderstorm around now," the woman mentioned.

Kurt headed back to his car, not wanting to get wet. Sure enough, as soon as he was safely inside, a torrential downpour broke through the dark clouds.

_So Beth wouldn't have died if it weren't for a stupid broken light,_ Kurt thought to himself as he turned the key in the ignition. This woman had been trying to get the county, or whoever was in charge of these traffic lights, to fix it. It really wasn't Blaine's fault at all. _It was someone else's fault_, Kurt angrily realized as he drove back toward the hospital. He hoped maybe this information would help Blaine stop feeling quite so guilty.


	6. Sisters, Yet Strangers

Chapter 6: Sisters, Yet Strangers

Kurt carefully avoided the muddy puddles as he led his daughter across the grass toward the spot in the cemetery where the casket would soon be lowered into the ground. He hoped Ava would follow suit. The previous day's rain had left a mess that would splash onto her brand new black dress if she wasn't careful. They were trailing behind a large number of people, most of whom were also treading carefully because of the state of the ground. Kurt didn't know most of these people. Many of them were Shelby's family and friends, who had become Beth's too over the course of her life. Most of the rest of them were teenagers or twenty-year-olds who had been Beth's peers, and likely her closest friends. He looked at all of the young, tear-streaked faces and found it hard to believe that at Finn's funeral, he and his own group of acquaintances had probably looked exactly the same way. He hadn't realized just how young they had been at the time; how innocent and inexperienced in life he and all of his friends had been.

Early that morning, Blaine had been released from the hospital. He was still getting the hang of using crutches, and even during the car ride back to Burt and Carole's he had needed to sit sideways across the back, not wearing a seat belt, so that he could elevate his leg upon a couple of pillows the entire time. Kurt nervously had driven his husband home without any incident. The injured man then barely had time to hug Ava before she and Kurt were out of the house, headed toward the church.

The funeral service had been lovely, but Kurt had been a little distracted. He'd kept his hand in his pocket the whole time, hoping his phone might vibrate. He wasn't being rude and constantly pulling it out to check it - he knew that kind of behavior was utterly unacceptable at a funeral - but he _was_ waiting for a text from Karofsky. He was hoping the information he'd provided the man the previous afternoon would prove useful in helping to get the charges against Blaine dropped. Karofsky had promised Kurt that first thing the next morning he'd head over to the District Attorney's office himself to handle the matter. Karofsky was optimistic that Blaine would stop being blamed for a crime that clearly was not his fault.

Kurt was hoping to receive the good news as soon as possible, now that the morning had come. Kurt was trying his best to be optimistic too. It was difficult, when attending an event such as this heartbreaking one, to remain optimistic, and Kurt had long ago learned that life isn't fair. Things that should work out fine don't. Nineteen-year-old children die meaningless deaths. He sighed, sadly, absentmindedly staring out toward the cars passing the cemetery in the distance, their engines creating a dull hum in the air.

As Kurt and Ava stopped walking, barely able to see the casket from where they were standing because so many people were in front of them, she looked up toward him.

"Is that… Quinn?" she asked quietly, pointing.

Kurt reached out and gently pushed her wrist down, touching a simple silver bracelet of Carole's in the process, which Ava had ultimately deemed _not_ too old-lady-like to wear. Kurt feared his daughter would be considered rude if she was caught pointing. He then followed her line of sight toward Puck, who was wearing his yarmulke. The blonde woman was standing beside him, a stoic expression on both of their faces.

"Yes," Kurt replied with a nod. He knew what Ava was really asking. He had shown her a picture of Quinn before, and had explained that Quinn was her birth mother. Ava's entire connection to Beth, her entire reason for being at this funeral today: it was because of Quinn.

"Then who's that?" she asked softly, gesturing in the same direction again. Kurt wasn't sure who she was asking about. _Puck? Or… Oh._ He realized who she was referring to. A girl who looked to be about Ava's age was holding onto Quinn's hand. She had dark hair and Kurt couldn't really get a good look at her from far away, but he suspected she looked a lot like her parents. That was Zelda. That was Quinn's third daughter, the one she'd given birth to a year after Ava's birth. That was the only child that Quinn had actually raised. She'd been a full biological sister to Beth, and she was Ava's half-sister too.

Before Kurt got a chance to explain any of that, though, the minister began to speak. Kurt didn't want to interrupt, and he looked down helplessly at his daughter. She was taking in the minister's words already, though, not waiting for an answer. She was listening intently to how Beth would never be forgotten. The minister spoke of heaven and souls and how Beth would be living on, just not on Earth. Kurt and Blaine had raised Ava secularly, so she likely didn't believe any of those things, just like Kurt himself didn't, but he hoped she'd be able to latch onto the idea that Beth's memory could live on forever.

It wasn't long until Beth's body was being lowered into the ground, and many of the loved ones congregating around started crying. Kurt remembered attending Sue's sister's funeral when he'd been in high school. As tears started pricked at his eyes, he felt much the same way as he had back then – he hadn't even met Beth Corcoran, just like he had never met Jean Sylvester. Nevertheless, it hurt. It hurt to see so many people sobbing from a loss that he knew was real for them, just as real as losing his mom and losing Finn had been for him. He looked down at his daughter. It hurt to see her crying too.

By the time they had all arrived at Judy Fabray's house, Ava had been privy to an explanation about Zelda. People started serving themselves food, and all of the open seats in the house slowly became taken. Finally, Kurt's cell phone buzzed, and he pulled it out hopefully.

_I hope you're doing okay at the funeral. I hate to interrupt.  
>But all charges have been dropped. I'm calling him now to let him know.<em>

Kurt smiled, his chest swelling with relief. He could barely believe it. Blaine was a free man! They could return to their home in Canada any time now. They didn't have to worry about Blaine going to prison. Beth's death was no longer being considered his fault.

Kurt realized he didn't know where Ava had disappeared to. She was no longer lingering near him. He stepped into the next room of the house, looking for her. He spotted her in the corner. Talking to Zelda. He blinked a few times, taking it in. Zelda was here. He had never seen her before, and at the burial site she'd been too far away, but now… he realized this girl looked remarkably like Ava. Sure, Zelda had dark hair, there was something about her eyes that reminded him of Puck's, and her shoulders were a bit wider. Zelda was also a bit shorter than Ava, although he imagined that was due to the fact that Zelda was thirteen months younger than Ava and that this height difference between them was not going to be permanent. But truly, they looked like sisters.

He felt weird about this: Ava meeting Zelda. It hadn't been planned. Kurt hadn't discussed it with Quinn and Puck, or with Blaine. But the girls looked fine. They were chatting comfortably with each other, getting to know one another. They deserved the chance to get to know one another, didn't they?

Quinn walked over to Kurt and tapped his shoulder lightly, startling him a bit.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I see you've noticed too," she added, nodding over toward their daughters.

"Yeah," Kurt replied. "I got distracted, and the next thing I knew, Ava had…"

"…found Zelda," Quinn concluded for him.

"I guess it'll be nice for them to have some kind of a relationship," Quinn said softly. "We'll have to work out a way for them to keep in touch."

"Yeah," Kurt agreed, not wanting the fact that their families lived a thousand miles apart to prevent the girls from continuing to bond.

"I heard Ava visited Beth," she delicately commented.

"Yeah. Puck really thought it'd be a good idea," he said.

"He was right, wasn't he?" she asked with a small smile.

"He really was."

* * *

><p>Back in their Vancouver home a few weeks later, Blaine hung up the phone and turned to his husband with an excited glint in his eye.<p>

"They're going to keep me on as Zeus!"

"Really?" Kurt replied, equally as excited. "How?"

"Well, you see, they talked it over with the writing team and they all said modern-day Zeus breaking his foot was could be worked into the plot."

"But what about the fantasy sequences?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, they said they'd solved that too. They just need their costume designer to create a robe that will completely obscure the cast, and then I can be sitting in a throne in all of my scenes."

"The costume designer?" Kurt asked, hopeful.

"Oh, yeah. I think they maybe mentioned something about how they've decided. You've got the job."

"Blaine!" he cried out, feigning being upset. "How could you bury the lead like that?"

Blaine chuckled. "I don't know. It must have slipped my mind."

"Shut up," Kurt replied, chuckling a bit himself. "Wait. Why didn't they call me personally to let me know I was hired?"

"Oh, I may have begged them to let me be the one to tell you."

"You're awful."

"You're hired," Blaine reminded him.

"I'm hired," Kurt repeated, awestruck. This was really happening. "I'm going to get to work on the same show as you!"

"You're going to get paid to pick out my clothes," Blaine teasingly added.

"When does production start?"

"Tomorrow," Blaine replied.

"Tomorrow?!"

"Yeah, I know it's short notice, but they already delayed it a few weeks because of my situation," he said, gesturing toward his foot. Blaine was still in pain whenever he didn't elevate his foot, so as he lay on the king-size bed, it remained propped up on a stack of three pillows.

At that point, Ava came running into their bedroom to greet them, equally excited, although clearly for reasons of her own.

"Dads!"

"What?" Kurt and Blaine asked in unison. Kurt knew she had just been Skyping with her half-sister. Blaine didn't actually know that, because he'd been busy discussing his role on _Modern Greek Gods_ with the crew of the show for the past hour.

"Can I go to California for American Thanksgiving?" Ava asked. "Zelda just invited me!"

Thanksgiving in Canada was always in October, but all of their American friends and family still liked to do traditional get-togethers at the end of November, and usually the Anderson-Hummel family was invited as well. They had already been planning to take Ava out of school for a vacation to meet Rachel's new husband and baby around a traditional tofurkey meal. (Apparently Ethan and Rachel were both vegans and had warned Blaine and Kurt that they weren't planning on roasting any actual birds for this event.)

"But sweetie," Kurt replied, gently. "We were already planning to go to New York for that holiday."

"I know, but I really want to get to hang out with Zelda, in person. This will be one of my _only _opportunities!" she begged.

Kurt looked over at Blaine, and they exchanged serious glances.

"Ava, how about you let your dad and me discuss this."

She pouted a little before leaving the room.

"I was so excited to show Ava the city," Kurt admitted softly.

"I know, honey. But New York isn't going anywhere."

"So we're going to let her go?" Kurt asked softly.

"Do we really have a choice here?" Blaine wisely replied.

The two men weren't prepared to get in the way of Ava's budding sisterly relationship with Zelda. They were both only children who had been so excited to gain a sibling in one another, and had been chatting almost every day this summer.

"_We_ can still see Rachel on Thanksgiving," Blaine reminded his husband.

Kurt grinned, knowing that would still be really nice. He missed his best friend greatly. He had made some new friends over the years, including some that he saw on a fairly regular basis, but no one had come close to replacing the Rachel Berry sized hole in his life once he'd stopped being her roommate.

"But she's still so young," Kurt commented, concerned. "She can't go on a plane all by herself!"

"Actually, she can," Blaine corrected. "She'll be an unaccompanied minor."

"I guess you're right."

"I'm always right, baby," Blaine teased.

"Sure," Kurt replied playfully. "You keep thinking that."

Kurt got up off of the bed and walked back over to the bedroom door.

"Ava," he called out softly. "We've decided."

She peeked her head around her bedroom door, eyes wide in anticipation.

"And?"

"And," Kurt replied, "we decided that you can go."

Ava beamed at him.

* * *

><p>By the time September rolled around, filming of <em>Modern Greek Gods<em> was going strong, and Blaine's beautiful purple cast was only days away from being removed in favor of a medical walking boot.

"I'm going to miss being able to design Zeus-clothing with a purple theme," Kurt commented wistfully next to his husband in bed. They were simply relaxing that evening, each of them reading a book of their own. It was after dinner, yet still much too early to turn out the lights.

"Well, I'm just happy that this new doctor thinks I'm finally ready to put some weight on my foot!" Blaine countered. He'd known Kurt had just been kidding. Kurt was just as anxious as him for his cast-wearing days to be over.

"Yeah," Kurt agreed. "That's a really good thing."

Kurt was secretly thrilled that Blaine had been forced to get a new doctor by circumstance of no longer being in Ohio. He had never exactly felt comfortable around Eli, regardless of if his 'thing' with Blaine had truly been ancient history.

Blaine looked lost in thought, and Kurt became concerned. "What is it, baby?"

"Oh, nothing," Blaine dismissed him. Kurt wasn't buying that for a second, though. He waited patiently for Blaine to elaborate.

"It's just… before Ava left for school this morning," he explained, "she mentioned that today would've been Beth's twentieth birthday."

"Oh," Kurt replied, sadness washing over him now as well.

"Yeah, and it's just like, I guess I believe it's not my fault, but sometimes I still think that if it hadn't been for the stupid bag of ice…"

"I know, baby. I know," Kurt said softly, wishing there was something he could do to make him feel better. His thoughts then went out to Ava.

"I'm gonna go check on our daughter," he said, pushing himself up off of the bed. "I'll be right back."

"Okay."

Kurt gently pushed open Ava's door, which had already been ajar. "Sweetie," he said. "Are you working on your homework?"

"Yeah," she replied, and he noticed she too seem weighed down by the heavy feelings of sadness. She stared down at her Algebra problems, seemingly unaware that her father was lingering.

"Ava," he softly commented. "Are you thinking about Beth?"

She nodded slowly. "I mean… I've gotten to know Zelda pretty well now, and I was just thinking... what if I had gotten to know Beth too?"

Kurt walked inside her room and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"It's okay to grieve the relationship you didn't get to have," he told her simply. He wasn't sure what else to say.

"But I wish I could be grieving _her_. She deserves it. Everyone deserves to be actually grieved for… for who they are," Ava commented, and Kurt felt a surge of pride at how wise and caring his daughter was becoming.

"Papa's feeling a bit sad tonight too," Kurt commented, knowing she was aware of how her father would always feel some degree of guilt for the whole situation. "Are you almost done?" he asked, looking over at the math textbook in front of her.

"Yeah," she said. "I just have one problem left."

"Good," Kurt replied. "When you finish, how about you come into our bedroom and watch a movie with us. You can choose which one." Kurt hoped that'd make both members of his family feel a bit better.

"Alright," she replied.

Ten minutes later, Ava had changed into pajamas and some cute rainbow socks, and Kurt was reminded that she was still their little girl. She was not all grown up yet. She snuggled up beside Blaine as Kurt pressed 'play' on a comedy that was sure to make everyone feel at least a little bit lighter.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ And there you have it! My fic is complete. Please let me know what you thought._

_**At this point in my fic, on AO3, (remember tinyurl DOT com/luvBigBang), I reminded everyone of**_ FreakingPotter's beautiful drawing of Kurt, Blaine, and Ava_**. I embedded it again here. You should consider looking at it again. It's beautiful and so detailed and especially appropriate right now.**_

_If you'd like to see the art I am making for scrunchycolfer's fic , which was also written for this Kurt Hummel Big Bang 2014, subscribe to my luvtheheavenFOX4 YouTube channel, please. _

_youtube DOT com/user/luvtheheavenFOX4_

_On October 19th I will be posting a fanvideo trailer for her fic. I also highly recommend you read her fic too. I've read only a snippet of it so far but I love it and I love the plot she's come up with. It is quite different than my fic, but it too features Klaine and adult characters and stuff, and if you like mine there is a good chance you'll like hers._

_I have enjoyed creating these headcanons for where the characters of Glee will end up in the future, and I plan to write additional oneshots at some point that align with these headcanons, for various characters (so perhaps not focusing on Kurt in those, despite this current fic being entirely Kurt's perspective)._


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